Volleyball Wars
by Wordwielder
Summary: Ever wonder what would happen if Hiccup and the gang were in gym?...plays off of that. Modern AU.  Yours truly as an OC! T for some mild violence and swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**And guess who's back? :) So I got this idea when I was in PE, and I started thinking about how each HTTYD person would be in a gym class. Yes, I used myself as a character...except, well, I'm cooler! ENJOY!**

There are 3 classes of kids in every gym period: the jocks who revel in showing everyone else up at humiliating games; the kids who do okay and attract no attention, positive or negative; and the run-from-every-ball, not-athletic-in-the-least, fall-every-two-feet kind of kids.

Lindsay knows she's in the last class.

She failed each of her fitness exams, epically so if the case of the flexed arm hang. Really? 8 seconds on upper body strength alone? Yeah, right.

Most of Mr. Vandleheiur's 3rd period gym class is in the second class. There are maybe five idiotic jocks, and of course, the group she has privately nicknamed the Vikings.

Her reasoning for this nickname is simple. Up until ninth grade, they went to Berk County School District…home of the "Vikings." It fits them: tough, lean, athletic, not that bright, and not so charming in the demeanor department. They transferred to this district when their school closed down and ended up at Lincoln High, home of the "Dragons." Ironically, the two schools used to be rivals. Well, are. Like two sides of war on one island.

There is one massive guy named Scott Snout, called by the discreet AP nerds "Snoutlout" (but not to his face). Doubtful that he even knows what a lout is though, or that it's an insult. Lindsay has _despised_ him since the day he tried to pick her up by complimenting himself. She called him an insolent toerag and an obscene sexist and he just blinked and said thank you. There is an overweight, smart guy Lindsay knows they call Fishlegs, a weird name if their ever was one; he is in some of her classes, and she is polite to him. Even has smiled once or twice. Then there are the unforgettably LOUD twins, whose names are really Thomas and Rhonda…but no doubt because of the constant fighting thing, they are dubbed "Ruffnut" and "Tuffnut."

Then there's Astrid Hofferson. For a girl named after a flower, she sure isn't delicate. She is the best volleyball player Lindsay has ever seen; actually she is the best at almost everything.

Lindsay very strongly dislikes her.

Oh, wait. There _is _someone else.

Hiccup Haddock.

He came with the Vikings, but he is the anti-Viking.

One, he actually has a brain and uses it. Two, he is like a bone, he's so thin. Three, he is a Viking outcast. They don't talk to him. They just make fun of him. It makes her so angry, but she's terrified they'll hit her if she says anything. They're a little violent—okay, a lot.

Hiccup is in every accelerated class she is. They haven't ever really talked, but he keeps to himself. She, as is her somewhat Sherlockian habit, has observed him and taken notes in her ever-present composition book. She's not a stalker or anything; she uses people as a basis for her characters, and Hiccup is a perfect choice because he is unusual, not another identical cheerleader.

Her notes go like this:

_-Quiet. Shy. Awkward, around girls especially. Obviously, no past girlfriends then._

_-Klutzy. Jams his knee under desk almost every day in English. Continually stubbing toe. Almost never complains of the pain. Probably doesn't want the attention. _

_-Completely in love with Astrid Hofferson. Obviously, like other teenage boys in that respect._

_-Occasionally seen small-talking with Fishlegs, until others come along._

_-Extremely intelligent. Can be noted daydreaming in Algebra 2, but always receives 100s. Obviously very advanced in math, science._

Then there was the one obvious from their first PE class:

He has no athletic ability.

No one wants Hiccup on their team for sports; he can be counted on to miss any shot directed his way. He's Lindsay in male form, really.

Today in gym is hell of all hell, volleyball, on two person teams. She watches Hiccup's face go glum as Astrid and Snoutlout are paired together, and the other Vikings get the one odd numbered group. _Poor guy._

She is not surprised when Vandleheiur puts them as partners for volleyball; get two klutzes together, less casualties inflicted on the normal kids. Hiccup starts as Vandy calls his name; he was obviously distracted. Vandy gestures vaguely to the net in the corner and tosses Hiccup a ball, which he promptly drops. He stoops to get it, face flushing. Lindsay makes her way over to him; they trudge to their corner net silently. Hiccup eyes the ball like it is a ticking bomb. "Um, you want to serve first?" he says just as she says, "I'm Lindsay."

He blinks. "I knew that," he answers. "Um, three seats back in Al 2, you're right next to me in biology…"

"I just wanted to be sure. I mean, we both suck here, so I bet Vandy will put us together a lot…"

"Um, do you know _my _name?" he asks incredulously. _I. Am. Talking. To. A. Girl. Sucessfully!_

"Of course. I mean, it's difficult to not notice. No offence."

Hiccup allows a cautious smile. "My real name's Harrison. My mom nicknamed me 'Hiccups' when I was a baby because I always had them, and then the s dropped and it sort of stuck…"

She grins, a surprisingly kind flash of teeth. "I like it. She must be one original lady."

"Um, she was."

"I'm sorry." It seems inadequate. _I'm sorry your mom's dead! Bet you've never heard that before!_

"She _was_ original," Hiccup says. "Her own name was Vallarhama, but everyone called her Val."

"At least she didn't end up marrying old Vandleheiur over there," Lindsay jokes. "I mean, Vallarhama Vandleheiur? Then your name would be Vladimir and we'd all be calling you Vampire by now." Okay, not her best joke. But it relieves the tension.

Hiccup chuckles politely, then holds up the ball. "So, should we eat this, or…?

Lindsay studies it. "Nah, not yet. Needs pepper."

Hiccup's amazed. She responded to his humor! Is this girl at like other girls? She peers around him and snorts at Vandleheiur. "Of course. Grading us on participation, and he can't even be bothered to stand up? I refuse to humiliate myself." She sits determinedly on the gym's floor. "You can sit too if you want," she adds. "But you don't have to. If I get busted I'll use my debate team skills to get out of it."

Hiccup sits down gingerly. She smiles like he has just pleasantly surprised her. "So, you know where I sit in _all_ of our classes, or...?"

Hiccup reddens; she laughs. After a second, he tentatively joins in. He is vaguely aware that this was how people normal talk to each other.

"So, if your mom is, um, deceased, do you live with your father?"

"Yeah, when he's home." Hiccup can't believe what he just said. He does not discuss his family problems. He doesn't want to send people to therapy. Heck, this girl is probably the first person he's even mentioned his dad to since elementary school.

She opens her mouth and starts to ask something, but stops. "So, um, have you started our science project?"

"Done."

She grimaces. "I really ought to…but a ten page lab report? Gah."

"Not as bad as our English project."

"What? Four poems? They don't even have to rhyme."

"English…is….not my favorite subject."

She shrugs. "It's the easiest one for me. Well, maybe history is…it's pretty close…but I want to be a writer, so…"

"I've noticed you writing before."

"_Really?_"

Hiccup feels self-conscious, like he's been caught stalking her. "In math."

"Eh, what can I say? I don't really care for Algebra."

"But it's so—"

Lindsay will never know what Algebra 2 is, because at that exact moment a volleyball whams through the air between them; they both dive to the floor, slamming against the tile. Their arms fly to cover their heads.

Lindsay waits until her heart rate starts to slow before she comes up cautiously. "Jesus Christ! What was that?" Her eyes narrow like a cat's. "Oh, of course." Hiccup follows her eyes to—

Astrid Hofferson stands at the edge of her court, her hands outstretched impatiently. "You want _me_ to get up to throw _your _ball back that you lobbed at us? Uh-huh, that'll happen." Lindsay crosses her legs resolutely, never breaking her gaze from Astrid. Hiccup stares at her, astonished. "What? You can't just let her push you around!"

_What? You can't? _Hiccup thinks.

Astrid cocks her head, eyebrows raised in confusion. She slowly crosses their court and picks up her ball. She stops as she came back, planting herself squarely in front of them, and giving them her best intimidating look. "Oh, do you want our heads too? You seemed to be aiming for them," Lindsay says sweetly.

The lines of Astrid's body seem to pulsate; rage flashes in her beautiful ocean-eyes. "You—" Her hand clenches into a fist. Lindsay stands, deliberately. Her heart sounds like a Congo drum. She hopes she won't get suspended; she'll never make up the work.

Vandy, for once making himself useful, happens to look up. Astrid scowls; she isn't stupid enough to punch someone with a teacher looking on. She bares her teeth and flounces off to where Snoutlout is waiting.

Lindsay sinks back to the ground, an impossibly large smile making her eyes glow. "I can't believe I just did that," she says just as Hiccup blurts out, "I can't believe you _did _that!"

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to though," she says breathlessly. "Seriously, I haven't been this happy since the Steelers won the super bowl."

"You don't seem like the type to follow sports…"

"What, are you crazy? No, I bet they would win and I ended up winning $250…but God, I've wanted to actually say something to her for years. This is great!"

Hiccup, abruptly, guiltily, laughs. "You just told off _Astrid!_" He can't believe he's laughing at the girl he's idolized since 2nd grade, but he can't believe he's just made a friend either.

"I did," she agrees, laughing with him. For an immeasurable moment, they are suspended in time, floating in a happiness rare in gym class.

Astrid happens to look over, and feels a protective, angry irritation at Hiccup Haddock, laughing with that Lindsay girl. _He's _my _stalker!_ Unconsciously, she finds herself beaming the ball them. Again.

"DUCK!" Lindsay screeches. Oh, she's not just going to be a little sarcastic this time. That was _on purpose!_ She lunges for the escaping ball, scrambles up and connects her hazel eyes with Astrid's blue ones.

She tosses the ball into the air, waiting for gravity to take effect and push it back down. She focuses on her anger. Her fist connects with the ball with more force than she's ever exerted in a gym class (and that includes the chaos of freeze tag in sixth grade). The volleyball rockets back to Astrid and she—

She drops it. It's too strong for her.

Vandy grants Lindsay an uncharacteristic, "Good job!" before returning to his Sports Illustrated. "Because that's the only time you've ever seen me hit a ball," she mutters.

Astrid gapes at her like she's turned into a Martian. Lindsay waves and smiles. She turns back to Hiccup, still smiling, and says, "So, out of pure curiosity, what made you fall so hard for that girl?"

It's a strange thought that Hiccup's least favorite class brought him an actual friend. But he's not complaining.

**Reviews make my day, so write them!**


	2. Chapter 2

**And we come back to Hiccup and Lindsay! I hope this chapter is still up to snuff. I feel like Hiccup might be OOC, but you guys can judge that. if you think so, please tell me so I can fix it! Anyway, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Yes, I own the amazingness that is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III and I'm writing fanfiction. Oh, yes, amkes so much sense. And I own Firework too, so that must mean I'm Katy Perry. Um, no. (I wish I owned Hiccup and Firework!)**

"Partner up, we're playing badminton," Vandy says.

Hiccup feels a thrill of surprise as Lindsay edges next to him. Someone actually _wants _him on their team. He's not used to that. "I warn you, I'm amazing at this game."

"Hmm, like you are with volleyball?" he whispers back.

She scowls. Since the "Astrid Incident" as they refer to it, Vandy has been trying to convince her to join the volleyball team, certain she's a secret sports prodigy. One, she's completely not, and two, Astrid captains that team and Lindsay isn't stupid enough to sign up for an hour of hell each day. Hiccup makes fun of her for it constantly, especially after she swore she'd never even try out and called the girls on the team unoriginal cretins. _"Oh, so since you're destined to play with them, you're an unoriginal cretin?"_

"_I'm super original! You know that! And since when was I destined to play volleyball?"_

_He just smirked, which was _more_ annoying than him using his trademark sarcasm._

She comes back with the highly original "Shut up!" Hiccup snickers.

They go to get their rackets and Lindsay serves. Hiccup manages to return it and she gives him a teasing thumbs-up. "You actually hit it!"

"Show-off," He yells back as she rams it back over the net and over his head. Their friendship is still in infancy but surprisingly close, held together by good-natured teasing, similarities in their personalities they'd never noticed before, and lots of time hanging out in the library. Lindsay helps him with English; he explains Algebra 2 to her as easily as the times tables. He's even been over to her house once, a large Colonial that seems smaller because of all the noise and the love and the laughter and the people and the pets crowding in it. She has three sisters and at least five dogs and cats running underfoot…that he saw.

"My mom loved you, by the way," She tells him now, smiling. "Said you were the kind of guy I should marry. Interpret that any way you want."

He reddens; she does a little too. "Don't worry, I told her you weren't looking….that is, you aren't unless my name's Astrid."

If he teases her about the volleyball incident a lot, she jokes on him all the time about Astrid. He doesn't mind; it's something that he weren't feeling it, he'd joke about it too. "It's such a stereotype," she says, shaking her head. "Popular girl ignores sweet nerd who's loved her since birth."

"At least you gave me sweet. And it was not since birth. Second grade. There's such a difference."

"You are sweet. You're also very smart, funny, all that. And you're not bad to look at at all, Hiccup. Who wouldn't want all of this?" She gestures to him. "She'd be lucky to have you; she's the loser here, not you." She sends a soft, easy hit his way, one he can easily return, as if to add to the kindness of her words.

It almost makes him cry, her earnestness. She really means it. No one has ever really complimented Hiccup. Not his dad: "You'll get big and strong one day." _And I won't be happy until you do._ Not the other Vikings: "You're so weird!" He remembers Astrid saying to him in third grade before she pushed him down into the mud, and he stayed on the ground for a long, lonely moment while no one offered to help him up again. He wants to wrap his bony arms around her, thank her, but is that weird? _Thank you for making me actually feel like I'm not a complete and utter loser for a minute! Can you follow me around and do this all the time?_

"Hey, Hiccup?" She says, looking him straight in the eye. "The popular girl always figures out the sweet nerd's right for her in the end."

"You really think that?" The question's more than he meant it as. _Do you believe I'll get that happily-ever-after? Do you believe happily-ever-after is real? Do you believe in _me_?_ _That I can?_ He's asking all of that with four words, and he's tense anticipating her answer.

"Yeah, I do." She says it simply and clearly. It requires no thought. "Hey, promise I'm the Best Woman at your wedding, okay? So I can say in my toast how I predicted this whole thing."

Hiccup promises. It requires no thought. She's best friend. Well, his only friend. The only _human_ in this world he can call his friend.

* * *

><p>They eat lunch together now, instead of Hiccup munching on a sandwich while doing his homework in the school's library. Lindsay has two full tables of people she likes, is friends with, around her, but she moved them so there's a spot beside her for Hiccup. They're all nice to him, which is a change. He doesn't say much during those thirty minutes, but he eats and he listens and he absorbs the conversations around him.<p>

He likes how easily and loudly Lindsay laughs with her buddies. He likes how they make an effort to include him. He likes that she treats him the same when they're with a group as when they're alone; she's not ashamed to be his friend.

He's actually started looking forward to lunch like a normal person.

* * *

><p>They spend almost every afternoon at the library, doing homework and goofing off; it's also when they have their most deep, serious conversations. Maybe it's just the quiet. Then again, it's also where they have their typical sarcastic, crazy ones.<p>

They're silent right now. Hiccup's doodling sketches of prototypes on his sheet of paper, and towards the side writing his initials with Astrid's. Embarrassing, he knows. That's why he's shielding his paper from Lindsay with his science textbook.

"Hiccup! Earth to Hiccup! Hiccup— look, Astrid Hofferson!"

"Huh?"

"I knew that'd get you," Lindsay grins.

"Shut up," he mutters.

"I just wanted to inform you that we'll be spending the night in library if we aren't out of here in two minutes," she says matter-of-factly.

Hiccup moves slowly on purpose, just to annoy her.

"Okay, fine, I have no problem with a little extra fiction-time."

She sits back down, opening the 1st Harry Potter deliberately. "You know, I can quote the entire first page of this book verbatim," she tells him.

Hiccup shakes his head incredulously. "No way."

She hands him the book. "Test me!"

He reads the first paragraph and nods at her. "Go."

"'Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of Number 4, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…'"

Finally, she stops her spiel, breathless. "Okay, that's all I know."

He raises his eyebrows. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"We should've bet on it," she grumbles. "I need the money."

He giggles; she makes a face at him that only makes him laugh harder.

He's still chuckling when the librarian kicks them out. "See you tomorrow, children," she says stiffly.

They wait until she shuffles into her car and backs out before they look at each and laugh. "Children?" They choke out in unison.

"What, Hiccup, we're only 16!" Lindsay mocks. "We've barely even lived!"

"Oh, of course we're children! Gosh, I can't even cross a street by myself!"

They clamber into Lindsay's 2001 Taurus; it's another part of their routine. Since she's got a birthday so early in the year, she's already got her license. She always takes him home,

and they fight for control of the radio. Hiccup likes the oldies his mom use to blast and sing along to, and Lindsay is a music enigma. She likes country, most of Hiccup's oldies (though he prefers the soul stuff and she's more classic rock,) and some of the pop stuff, particularly Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. It all depends on what mood they're in what they listen to; if they disagree the person who can say "The gods be with you," in Norse (correctly) first, wins. They both had to learn it for their World History class; Hiccup in particular enjoyed that unit, with his ancestors being Old Norse Vikings. However, if you can switch the music without being chased off, it's fair game. It leads to a lot of trickery, which they are both very good at.

Lindsay slips in a CD. "I got Teenage Dream," she tells him, "and we're listening to it." He doesn't feel like fighting her; besides, though he'd never admit it (he has enough problems being called girly) he actually likes Katy Perry. Lindsay skips until she hits a particular song and lets it begin. She's humming to the beat, singing along; she knows every word.

_Do you ever feel like a plastic bag_

_Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?_

_Do you ever feel, feel so paper-thin  
>like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?<em>

_Do you ever feel already buried deep? _

_Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing  
>do you know that there's still a chance for you? 'cause there's a spark in you<br>_

_You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine  
>just own the night like the fourth of July….<em>

"Did you pick this song for a reason?" Hiccup asks suspiciously.

She snorts. "Yes. Because I wanted to listen to it." She launches into the chorus, blending her voice with the music. He feels an abrupt warmth when he realizes she's never sung in front of him until now. She must really trust him… He leans back against the seat and smiles as his heart glows with the thought.

_You don't have to feel like a waste of space  
>you're original, cannot be replaced<br>if you only knew what the future holds  
>after a hurricane, comes a rainbow...<em>

He swears she's looking right at him now. Her eyes are soft, and he knows while she might have picked this song because she likes it, she's also giving him something to cling to.

_Maybe the reason why all the doors are closed  
>so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road<br>like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow  
>and when it's time you know…<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon,"<em> Lindsay finishes. She locks eyes with him for a full second before she squeezes the hand resting on the seat between them.

It's amazing that one person can give so much back the rest of the world has taken from you.

It's time to tell her.

**To my lovely reviewers: **

**Ouma kugo: thanks :) I hope you like the second chapter. **

**Gilligan: Yep! Astrid is hurls volleyballs because, well, Hiccup's been hers (even if she deosn't want him) forever. She doesn't like sharing! **

**Kazuki: Your wish is my command: new chapter for you! **

**jack o lantern: This chapter took place in a couple settings. The next ones will probably be the same. **

**billy kido: Here's my next chapter! Enjoy! **

**sora nii: thanks :) right now my Hiccupx Astrid is very one-sided. But we know how Astrid hates Lindsay for TALKING to Hiccup, so how will she react with them hanging out everyday? :) **

**mks 12 98: Your review made me smile! I hope you still like Lindsay evn when she's not throwing volleyballs, lol. **

**Beastial Moon: the Toothless thing you suggested was genius! and I really considered it. I'm not telling you what my choice was, you'll find out soon enough! :D **

**disneyisbeautiful: I love your reviews, they always inspire me! thanks for telling me what I'm doing right, and I'll try to keep it going. And thanks for my cookie! **

**Hunternite: you're so great on my reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. **

**Thanks those who added me to their story alerts: HunterNite, xol225, disneyisbeautiful, Beastial Moon, I am Number5, and fairygirl2468 their favorite stories: HunterNite, xol225, TheNocturnalChandelier, and fairygirl2468 their author alerts:TheNocturnalChandelier and HunterNite; and favorite author: HunterNite. HunterNite, you are my favorite reviewer right now!**

**Someone we all love is coming next chapter. I promise entertainment! XD And if you review, I'll work faster on it. so GO GO GO! what are you waiting for?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Whoa, I wrote this chapter in a day. All because I was super excited for what happens in this one :) ENJOY!**

They drive slowly up the winding curves of the driveway leading to Hiccup's house. Lindsay's relinquished control of the radio, and now they're listening to something from the sixties. Well, _she_ is. All Hiccup can hear is his pounding heart. She stops in front of his huge, empty house like every other day; she's waiting for him to grab his stuff and tell her he'll talk to her tomorrow. Like every other day. But he doesn't. He asks, hesitantly, "Do you… want to c-come in?"

She's stunned for a moment. But only one. "Okay, sure. Let me call my mom and tell her I'll be here a while." She pulls out her bulky, at least to him, cell phone; she hates touch screens, and so she has stuck with the same phone she's had since she was 13. At leats it's not a flip. Hiccup, on the other hand, has the super-sleek, super-cool iPhone, the latest model. One thing about his dad being off running his company all the time is that they can afford anything. His dad doesn't even make him ask; he set up a loaded bank account for him when he was fourteen. If it ever runs low, he replenishes it. In his more bitter moments Hiccup's thought Stanley "Stoick" (named for how he never showed pain playing football in college) Haddock is just trying to minimize the time he has to think about his son.

"Excuse me a sec," Lindsay's voice says, breaking into his thoughts. She turns the key in the ignition and slides out of her car. "Hey, Mom, it's me…" Hiccup hears her say as she shuts the door.

Hiccup inhales, and unbuckles his seat belt. He moves like he's in slow motion as he picks up his backpack and climbs out. He catches Lindsay's eye and mouths that he's going in; she nods. "Yes, I've got most of my work done already," she says into the phone. Her words fade behind him as he runs into his house; the closer he gets, the more speed he puts on. He slams the door behind him like a gunshot and bounds up to his room, where his secret waits. He ignores the mess; he should've cleaned this place up yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that…

But right now he doesn't care. There's one thing he's looking for, and he doesn't know exactly where it is. And he has to find it before Lindsay comes in the house.

Lindsay cautiously opens the door and wipes her feet on the mat. "Hiccup?" she calls. She figures he's upstairs absorbed in something; when he's concentrating, he hears worse than a dead person. She could sit and wait for him, but she feels like the paintings of axe-wielding, roaring Vikings on the walls are about to leap out of their frames and charge. She drops her purse and backpack by the door and neatly lines up her shoes next to them. Maybe because this is the home of two guys, the house is a complete mess. Lindsay's fingers are literally twitching to clean it.

_Hiccup will be laughing about this for months, _she thinks as she riffles through the cabinet. Do they even have Clorox? Windex? Anything?

She hears the gentle padding of feet approaching, and a weird clink. Must be Hiccup, maybe dragging something; strange he hasn't asked her what she's doing yet. She says without taking her head out of the cabinet, "Hiccup, when was the last time someone washed your windows? They're disgusting. I swear, your fingerprints from when you were three are still there."

He doesn't answer her, just waits while she clinks around the glass jars stored under the sink. She withdraws from the cabinet, shaking her head; she hasn't found one cleaning product except half shriveled sponges. "Hiccup, where's the—" she starts to say, looking to where he's supposed to be standing.

Except, he's not.

Someone else is.

Some_thing_ else is.

"HICCUP!" She screams, and the panther roars.

* * *

><p>Hiccup hears her shrieking and realizes what he's forgotten:<p>

He let Toothless roam the house this morning. There was no chance of his dad being home; he's on a business trip to Iowa. No one else ever comes over. It seemed unfair to lock him up in such a cluttered, cramped room until Hiccup came home.

Now it seems unfair to have left his best friend at the mercy of his very protective tame black panther.

The most unathletic kid in his gym class, he figures he breaks about ten track records as he flies downstairs. He skids into the kitchen; Toothless's green-yellow eyes soften as they land on him, but switch back to Lindsay and they narrow again. Hiccup slides between his only two friends, holding his arms up in a peace gesture, and says to her soothingly, and then to him, "It's okay. It's okay—she's a friend." He runs his hand over the silky fur of Toothless's back and turns to her. "You scared him." It comes out reproachful, but he doesn't mean it unkindly.

"_I _scared _him_?" She yelps, an edge of hysteria creeping into her voice. "Wait. Who is _him_?"

"Lindsay, Toothless. Toothless, Lindsay," he says carefully. "Remember, bud? This is the girl I was telling you about, my friend?" Toothless, as a response, growls. Lindsay rises from her crouch on the ground slowly, clutching the counter so hard her fingernails are white. For a second, it looks like she's torn between running for her life and giving Hiccup a black eye. "Please explain to me," She says, her voice trembling, "why you are cuddling with a freaking black panther." Her voice rises into a squeak on the last word.

"My dad used to hunt bears."

She seizes a cell charger plugged into the wall and throws it at him. "How is that relevant!" she shrieks.

"No, it is!" Hiccup yells back as he dodges. "My dad sort of fell out of it, and he sent me to get all the old traps out of their hiding places in the woods by the house." He swallows, putting his hand on Toothless's head. "But I forgot one." He breathes in; the guilt is suffocating, and will always be. "And when I remembered, it was too late. I got there and Toothless' back leg was caught in the trap." He turns the cat gently, and Lindsay gasps at the stub of what was once a thigh, that drifts into a prosthetic. Hiccup closes his eyes. He wishes he had gotten there _sooner_… "It's their instinct, to try to escape."

"He chewed it off?"

"The trap did most of it," Hiccup says bitterly. "He just helped it along." He gnaws the inside of his cheek and continues. "He was just lying there, and I thought he was dead. But his eyes opened, and he was looking right at me. I thought about killing him. My dad had guns. He was injured. Heck, my dad might like him stuffed, since they're so rare. But he just _looked_ at me. And he was so afraid, so regal…so wild.. I couldn't do it." He strokes Toothless's jaw line. "I broke apart the trap."

She throws another phone charger. "You idiot! He could've killed you!"

"He almost did." He remembers: the slit of the green-yellow eyes widening, the mouth opening into a snarl as the beast lunged into him, digging his huge clawed paws into Hiccup's shirt, pinning him to the ground. He was weak prey. An easy target. The beast locked eyes with him; Hiccup saw raw fierceness in them and fear in the reflection of himself. Suddenly, abruptly, as Hiccup's heart stopped, as his breathing paused, as his world started crumbling, as he thought about how he'd never become the son his father wanted, the panther roared in his face and bounded away, limping. "He almost did, but didn't. He just…didn't. He roared, and vanished in a second."

"But panthers," Lindsay says slowly. "They hunt with stealth. If he was limping, he wouldn't be able to sneak up on his prey. He wouldn't be able to feed himself…he would star—" she stops.

"Exactly." Hiccup says. "When I woke up from passing out in my yard—don't look at me like that, you've never been pinned down by a 150 pound panther; it was shock— I went on my laptop and did some research. Once I figured that out, I realized it would've been better to kill him, because he couldn't hunt. He was as good as dead. I tried to forget him, what happened. But I felt so _guilty._"

"You should've," she snaps. "They're critically endangered, by the way!" Lindsay is a die-hard conservationist. It shouldn't surprise him she's yelling. "What was he doing here anyway? They're not found in America."

"Illegal exotic pet, probably. I figure he escaped. They're very resourceful in hunting; they can survive anywhere."

"Except when they can't hunt," Lindsay finished.

Hiccup nods. "So I went back."

Lindsay goes to the outlet again. "Crap! I'm out of chargers!" She opens a cupboard, grabs a sponge, and hits him square in the face with it, with massive force, so it hurts way more than it should.

"OW!"

"That was for being AN IDIOT!"

She bounds over and hugs him tightly. He sort of can't breathe. But still.

"That was for being an idiot that's still here to tell me this." She glances at Toothless and carefully sits down by him, her motions gentle and deliberate. Toothless narrows his eyes but tolerates her closeness. "So, you went back," she says.

"I went back to the area where I'd seen him last. I found him half-dead in the trees; I could see all of his ribs." Both their eyes go to Toothless's sleek, comfortably round side. No ribs now. "I gave him all the raw meat we had; he growled at me, took it, and hid again. But I kept going back. Eventually, he started to trust me. He let me pet him. He let me make him a way to walk. I used some scrap metal, some wood. It wasn't great, but he could get around. Later, I bought the kind of prosthetic they use for dogs and modified it to fit him; just added some touches to make it more comfortable, lengthened it a bit."

"Why in name of God did you name a _panther _with teeth as big has my freaking hand_ Toothless_?"

"Once we got to being…friends, I guess is the word, we'd play. When he would play-bite me, it didn't hurt, like he didn't have any teeth. There's the name." He shrugs. "He seemed to like it. Eventually, I coaxed him back here. This is his home as much as mine."

"Does your dad know about this?" she asks. Of course she asks the sensible question that he really wishes she hadn't.

"Um…" he shifts. "Not exactly."

"Hiccup!"

"He'd have him killed!" Hiccup says desperately. Lindsay falls silent, looking at Toothless with an indescribable sadness, for his leg, for his heritage, for the fact he has to be hidden from the world. "You're right," she sighs. "He can never know. How…how do you keep him hidden?"

Hiccup shrugs. "When my dad's not home, he can go anywhere he pleases. When my dad's around, Toothless stays in my room. He never goes in there. Most of the time, it's not a problem."

Lindsay nods, but she's not looking at him; she's watching Toothless. She gently extends her arm to the panther and lowers her eyes to the tile. His choice now.

When she feels the warm snout rub against her palm, she knows he has accepted her.

By the time the sun's sinking past the horizon, Lindsay has befriended Toothless fully. She's scratching his belly now, half-terrified at the thought those legs kicked up so comically end in razor-sharp claws. He's tamed, but still wild. "He's amazing," she tells Hiccup. She means it.

She's never seen Hiccup smile so hard.

**To the amazing:**

**disneyisbeautiful: Thank you! I was actually worried about the friendship not coming off as strong as I wanted. Glad to know you think I'm on the right path.**

**sora nii: I was so happy when I read 'You really know what you are doing.' That's the goal! And yep, I will answer every review on my next chapter (unless I have over 20.)**

**jack o lantern: thanks for your honesty. But in the future, please be as specific as possible if something bothers you so I can make adjustments to make the story better.**

**HunterNite: I LOVE Katy Perry! Not Like The Movies is my favorite :)**

**kazuya bridget: I always try to add a little humor to keep it fun. I promise to continue for at least 2 more chapters.**

**Voldyne: thanks! I understand what you mean when it comes to OCs. I'm pretty hesitant of them myself; but I decided to take a risk with Lindsay. So far, she seems pretty sucessful. I hope you enjoy the rest of this story!**

**void genome: thank you! to answer your question of how Astrid will take Hiccup being BFFs with our girl, let's just say for now she does not like it. He was hers first!**

**Thanks to a bit of gravity, Voldyne, Ella Unlimited, and crzyRENThead for adding me to their story alerts, and Ella Unlimited for adding this to her favorite stories.**

**As a reward to you guys, here's an excerpt from our next chapter, when all hell really breaks loose:**

_"He was mine first!"_

_"Mine, mine, mine! He's not your puppet! You can't just string him along for fun! Don't you see, can't you get that he's a person, he has feelings? Feelings for you that you use to your advantage, that you use as a weapon against him? God, you disgust me!" Lindsay screams it, and she realizes while she's always disliked Astrid because every guy is in love with her and every girl wants to be her, she hates Astrid because of what she does to Hiccup, again and again and again._

"I disgust you?"_ Oh, now she's said too much._

Hiccup, Toothless might be your only friend again, because I'm about to die.

_But Astrid doesn't swing. She does something much more unexpected._

**And I just cliffied you! Will you still review? I want to know what you think of how I incorporated Toothless especially.**


	4. Chapter 4

**And I return! IDK why I always end up updating at 2 AM my time. Relieving the cliffie! but this is an emotionally charged chapter. Like, for real, I almost cried like a thousand times writing it. If that hasn't scared you off, enjoy! And a warning, some mild language goes with all the emotion.**

"HICCUP!" Lindsay's shooting down the hallway towards him, her hazel eyes wide with panic. She falls over Snoutlout, swears at him in French as he flirts, and limps/sprints to where Hiccup stands next the gym door. "Hiccup, I'm so screwed!"

"Hey to you too."

She slaps him with her lunchbox. "This is serious!"

"What happened?"

She checks over her shoulder before wailing, "Astrid and I have a project together. As in, a get-together-outside-of-school project. She's going to smear me across my bedroom walls."

Hiccup wants to tell her she's overreacting, except…well, she's not. Astrid and Lindsay have become full-fledged enemies. They oppose each other directly in gym; Lindsay actually _tries_ to beat her and she's actually won at soccer, badminton, and field hockey. They glare as the other passes in the hall. They have some pretty good burns exchanged. Lindsay actually has told him when she gets bored in Algebra, she tries to come up with original comebacks for Astrid. There hasn't been a direct fight between them yet; he hopes it won't come to that. Hiccup thinks it's a bit weird that Astrid is this angry over one sarcastic comment and an amazing volleyball shot, but Astrid is a grudge holder; she still doesn't speak to the kid who pushed her off the swings in second grade. That's it. Right?

Lindsay's right; there will be something besides paint on her wall after this.

She groans. "You can't even think of anything to say. God, I'm dead! D-E-A-D!"

It's bad when she starts spelling.

"Calm down," he tells her, but that only makes her more panicked. "I'm so screwed, I am so screwed!" she moans. "I'll leave you something in my will."

Hiccup really wants to say something supportive and encouraging, but he can only just pat her shoulder. She glares. "You're so helpful."

"It'll be okay?" he offers. She rolls her eyes, "Thank you."

"What's this project on?" He asks. Vandy comes out of his office and stares pointedly. "Hold on, tell you after I change," she says, already halfway into the girl's locker room.

She comes back in under two minutes; she's wearing two different socks and she hasn't bothered to put her hair up. "Okay," she starts, removing the elastic form her wrist and flipping her brown hair into a ponytail. "It's for theatre."

Hiccup makes an involuntary smug noise. Just yesterday they were arguing over why each of their respective electives is better; one reason theatre isn't perfect, Lindsay had said darkly, was Astrid being there. "Still, it's a big class, so I don't have to deal with her much." So much for that.

"Shut up," she growls. "I had an appointment with…um, an appointment, last class when everyone picked partners. The project is to write an 'emotionally charged' dialogue scene for two characters, under five minutes. We won't have time to do it in class, so…" She sighs. "Astrid wasn't there either, apparently. So we're together. I have to write a dialogue scene with my worst enemy."

"What was your appointment?" Hiccup asks.

"Oh, after all that _that's_ what you ask? None of your business."

"What was it?" he persists.

"Hiccup, please," she begs. "Let's just say…feminine stuff."

Hiccup turns the approximate color of a plum. "That's why when I tell you 'an appointment' you take it and don't ask questions," she says reproachfully.

"Duly noted," he groans. "Just for the record…"

"What?"

"It was nice being friends with you."

She isn't sure whether to hug him so hard she runs the risk of cracking his ribs, or tackle him and black his eye.

* * *

><p>Lindsay feels like she's just strapped a ticking bomb to her chest as she approaches Astrid at her locker. "Um," she says. About a thousand insults have just popped into her head, and she can't say any of them if she wants to live because there are no witnesses around. "About that project."<p>

Astrid slams her locker door, and Lindsay jumps about a foot in the air. "There is no way I'm wasting my time on a theatre project with…_you_." _You just made me feel really great about myself, Astrid. Thanks._ She pushes Lindsay into the lockers with one hand. Okay, that will bruise later. "You do it, if you're so concerned," she snarls.

"Maybe I will," Lindsay says frostily. "I'm somewhat opposed to failing. Expect better of myself, maybe?" Ooh, that's good. Not that Astrid's stupid. She _is_ smart. Just, well, not as smart as Lindsay. And Lindsay bets the fact that she's got a higher GPA is something that digs under Astrid's perfect skin.

Astrid hisses like a cobra, poised to strike.

"Go ahead," Lindsay whispers. "I'm not afraid of you."

Astrid hurls her fist into the metal next to Lindsay's head, growls, and stalks away.

Whoa, she was completely bluffing.

But not about being unafraid. Astrid is not all-powerful. Lindsay's starting to realize that, and _God, it feels good._

* * *

><p><em>Lindsay actually did write the stupid skit. She even made discreet flashcards for Astrid. Except, well, the skit was not performed how she wrote it. The skit was plain not performed. She's not even sure you can call it her work, because she freaking adlibbed it all. They did. They weren't acting; it was <em>their_ words ricocheting out of their mouths, _their_ emotions rising like a tidal wave,_ their_ thoughts crashing into each other..._

Hiccup walks her to class. They talk about Toothless, in delightful whispers; nothing like a secret between friends. Especially breathing, purring one. They've changed their routine, going straight to Hiccup's and chilling with Toothless, who seems thrilled to have an hour and a half of his two favorite people stroking him and scratching his jaw and belly and talking to him. Or cooing, in Lindsay's case. ("What? He's cute! In a super fierce, wild way, of course.")

Astrid glides past them like they don't exist, knocking Hiccup into a wall. Lindsay scowls. "Hey, it's fine," Hiccup says. Such a lie, and she knows it. "It's not," she answers. "How can you…? Just _let _her…?"

Astrid doesn't bother to lower her voice as she giggles to her friends, "Looks like Nerd Love's having their first fight." Lindsay doesn't think; her head's roaring. She lunges at Astrid like she's not 110 pounds and a physical failure that's never fought anyone before; she struggles and pants before she realizes that Hiccup's using all his strength to restrain her. "Get off!" she snarls at him. "Dammit, will just let me go?"

"Not until you calm down!" he yells.

She rapid-fire calls him a creative combination of different French swears before she stops struggling. "Okay," she says breathlessly. "You're right. If I get suspended, who's going to look after you?"

Hiccup smiles thinly—he recognizes the truth in those offhand words— a warning in his eyes, and darts to Engineering down the hall. He better hurry, or he'll get his first tardy in his school career.

Lindsay walks slowly into the auditorium. Now that Hiccup's not here to restrain her, it's getter harder to remember why it's a bad idea to charge Astrid and make her pretty little nose bleed. _No! Focus! Project due! How would Astrid look with a black eye?_ She wonders. _NO! GAHH!_

Of course, they're the first pair to get up and perform their skit.

Lindsay shoves the notecards into Astrid's hand going up the steps to the stage. They line up on the stage, and Lindsay opens her mouth fully intending to say her first line.

Then she notices the lingering sneer on Astrid's face, and the only way she can describe her next action is going berserk. She doesn't lunge; she doesn't attack. At least not with her fists. But she does start…something. "You." The word is venomous. Astrid checks her notecard and sees it's not scripted. "You," Lindsay repeats. "You're poison."

"Excuse me?" Astrid's voice rises.

"Poison," Lindsay repeats, stepping closer. "You're poisoning him." Another step. "My best friend." She's barely two feet from Astrid now. "My best friend!" She screeches.

Astrid glares. "Back off. You don't want to mess with me."

"Like you mess with him?" Her voice is calm but its volume is skyrocketing. "You don't _see_ him. Not like I do. You see a target. Your target."

"I do not target him."

"Oh, you don't? You don't?"

Astrid Hofferson is never afraid, no. But the crazed, passionate resentment in this girl's eyes is unnerving. "No, I don't," she returns coldly. "He just gets in my way."

"He loves you," Lindsay whispers.

Astrid knows that. She doesn't even say it; that much is obvious.

"He used to be yours."

"Used to?" She laughs. He is. He always has been.

"He's mine too. You're always with us. He can't forget you. But he can't forget me either." She grimly smiles. "We're sharing now."

"He was mine first!" Astrid growls possessively, and that's what really sets her off.

"Mine, mine, mine! He's not your puppet! You can't just string him along for fun! Don't you see, can't you _get_ that he's a person, he has feelings? Feelings for you that you use to your advantage, that you use as a weapon against him? God, you disgust me!" Lindsay screams it, and she realizes while she's always disliked Astrid because every guy is in love with her and every girl wants to be her, she hates Astrid because of what she does to Hiccup, again and again and again.

"_I disgust you?" _Oh, now she's said too much.

_Hiccup, Toothless might be your only friend again, because I'm about to die._

But Astrid doesn't swing. She does something much more unexpected.

She starts to weep.

Lindsay is perplexed. Astonished. Awkward. Puzzled. A tiny bit ashamed. She's never made anyone cry before.

Astrid's made _her_ cry before. When she stole the guy Lindsay was crushing on ninth grade. They were talking, maybe even getting close to a first date, and wham! In comes Astrid, and Matt Hybrod never spoke to her again. She cried at the dance they were thinking about going to together when she saw him kissing Astrid in the corner, and she cried the next day when she saw his relationship status on Facebook.

She made her cry when she called her a freak in October when she accidently ran into her outside biology. She made her cry, hot, miserable, angry tears behind her hair before she pulled herself together for that day's test.

Astrid made her cry the last time she broke Hiccup's heart. "I will never go out with you, you loser," she had sneered, and he crumpled. They skipped out of last period and he cried in her car and she cried with him harder than she ever had in her life because she had promised him one day Astrid would realize he's perfect for her and today made her feel like a liar and she hates liars.

Another reason she cannot stand Astrid Hofferson.

So why does she feel like a horrible person as tears stream down those bronzer-dusted cheeks?

"Hey," Lindsay says with tenderness she never thought she'd be applying to Astrid Hofferson, "It's okay."

"You're right, I am disgusting," Astrid wails.

Lindsay looks helplessly at their theatre class, who are stunned.

"And scene," she says firmly. She can't believe it; she's saving Astrid here. But she can't afford to fail this project, so that's another reason. She's not just being nice. Even if she didn't think of that right away.  
>"GENIUS!" Mrs. Hemingway projects. "The drama! The passion! The truth! I <em>felt <em>the emotion!"

"Oh, that was the point," Lindsay smiles weakly. "Um, we'll be right back, we just need to go to the bathroom to… take off our stage makeup." She drags Astrid off the stage and out into the hall bathroom. "Pull yourself together," she snaps at her, handing her a tissue from her purse. Astrid dabs the mascara running under her eyes; she only smears it worse.

"I don't _get _you," she tells Astrid. "Do you like him or not?"

"W-what?"

"Do you like Hiccup or not?" she demands. "You mock him and degrade him, and then you throw volleyballs at my face when I just _talk_ to him. You hate me because I'm his friend."

"Is that all you are?" Astrid's bewildered.

"Yes," Lindsay says, exasperated. "He's all hung up on you. Was that not clear? God, don't ask me why; I don't know _why_. You're kind of a bitch."

"I am," Astrid admits. "I…I don't know how I feel about Hiccup."

Lindsay raises her eyebrows.

Astrid laughs miserably. "I'm serious. On one hand, he's my scrawny stalker." Lindsay bristles. _One more word. _"On the other, I can't stop thinking about how much I want to touch his hair."

Lindsay blinks. "His hair."

Astrid nods, half-eager and half-disgusted. "It just looks soft…like feathers, almost…" she sighs. "And I want to count his freckles, and kiss him until I can't breathe…"

Lindsay really wants to laugh, but she keeps her voice and face level and impassive. "And how long has this been going on?"

Astrid thinks. "Since a few months ago. After the volleyball thing…"

Lindsay looks at her incredulously. "When he and I became friends?" She nods. "Really? Jealousy was all you needed?" She does laugh now, but it's a little bitter. "I'm more disgusted with you than ever, Astrid. But if it makes you feel better, the close we have ever got to romantic was when we were like literally holding each other together when you told him he was a loser, and you'd never go out with him? Remember that? We both cried, Astrid. You made him _cry_." It's so unfair, all of this. And now _she's _crying. "Jesus!" she groans. She forces herself to look at Astrid, who looks like she has no idea whether to bolt or try to help.

"Astrid," Lindsay says, her voice thick, "If you want him, I'll help you. You just have to decide. Can you give up being the person everyone idolizes, the person who pushes Hiccup down and laughs about it? Can you change into the person who helps him back up?" Lindsay wipes her eyes resolutely. "I'm going back to class." She stands. "You just have to decide," she repeats, and she runs out of the bathroom not back to the auditorium but to where she knows Hiccup is: Mechanical Engineering. She'll beg him to come here for a second and she'll go into a supply closet and let loose. She won't tell him what happened today. She just needs someone to hold her and let her cry.

* * *

><p>He does let her cry. She practically soaks his shirt through before he murmurs, "Hey, what happened?"<p>

Just the concern in his voice gets her going again. She whimpers a "Nothing," but he's not convinced. "Yeah, I like to sob for no reason too," he says conversationally. She laughs wetly and swats his arm half-heartedly.

"Some guy do this?" He demands. "Cause I'll, um, kick his ass!"

"No, it's not a guy," Lindsay tells him. "At least not directly."

"That made so much sense," he says, his eyebrows raised.

She mutters, "Shut up," and hastily wipes her eyes. He catches her wrist. "Hey, you're not hurt, right?"

"No, Astrid didn't beat little unsuspecting me up."

"That's not what I was asking."

"I'm not gonna say that I'm not," she said finally. "But I'm not gonna say I am."

His emerald eyes flash and she knows while he might not know what's happened in the past hour, he can see how she's feeling, can understand it.

He hugs her, and she leans her head on his bony shoulder. He rests his forehead on the top of her head; his hair flops down and brushes against her face. It's soft, feathery, ticklish. Lindsay thinks she should tell Astrid, launch her into the throes of euphoria or something. Oh, but then Astrid will pelt her with volleyballs for actually hugging her friend. Lindsay starts laughing at the irony, the sheer ridiculousness.

"Are you—are you P-PMSing or something?" Hiccup sputters, and she laughs harder. "Come on; let's get you back to class." He puts an arm around her and she looks up at him him. "Thanks," she says it quietly, hoarsely. "Hiccup, thanks_._"

"You're welcome, crazy girl," he smiles, and she does too. "I'm not crazy. _You're _crazy." She pokes his stomach.

"Yeah, okay," he snorts, thanking God she's back to normal. He's terrible with crying girls.

He drops her off at the auditorium…again. She tells him she'll see him in Biology. Surprisingly, Mrs. Hemingway doesn't comment how long it took her to "take off her stage makeup" or ask where's she's been. Lindsay sits as quietly as possible in one of the plush audience seats. Astrid gets up from her spot down the row and sits next to her. "I covered for you. Said you felt sick."

Lindsay nods. "Thanks." She turns back to where two guys who are not actors in the least are nervously performing.

Astrid sucks in a breath. "I want your help," she blurts out.

Lindsay eyes her warily. She thinks about years of hating Astrid Hofferson. She thinks about kind, wonderful, lonely Hiccup who loves this girl so much.

"Okay," she says. "We have a deal."

**Bet you weren't expecting a n Astrid/Lindsay alliance. How is THAT gonna go? Hmm, review and you'll find out quicker.**

**To my faithful readers:**

**disneyisbeautiful: Gotta say, I'm proud of how Toothless came in. That was HARD to do! I wrote the sponge thing laughing my butt off, because I could totally see Hiccup's face. Hope you like this chapter! You further prove your amazingness if you review again!**

**Voldyne: Yep, I did an evil cliffie. You like how I turned a reward for you guys into a trick to keep you reading? I'm more conniving than I thought! But, hey, I didn't keep you waiting long :) And thanks about Toothless, i found it fitting.**

**HunterNite: My next chapter to a devoted reviewer!**

**mks 12 98: I am so sorry about the loss of your pets. And both on 11/11, that's just strange. I hope Chapters 2, 3, and 4 helped. thank you for continuing support.**

**And thanks to loozje, who added me to their story alerts.**

**So this next chapter may take me a while, becasue I really NEED to do How To Decide You're Ready To Get Married's 4th Chapter. Again, though, the more you review the faster I work!**

**Love, Wordwielder**


	5. Author's Note

**Okay, there are probably some of you whose thought just became rated T when you saw this wasn't a chapter but an AN. I just want to ask some reader advice before I begin working seriously on Chapter 5.**

**I had my idea all planned out. And then came chapter 4, and it sort of messed me up, even though it's one of my favorite chapters. (This is what happens when I vent write fanfiction after a bad day.)**

**So I'm sure you've picked up on some HiccupxLindsay undertones. Again, not what I had planned when I began this, but the characters write the story, huh? But I love HiccupxAstrid (I write a ton of it.) So I'm going to let the readers decide: Hiccup and Astrid hit it off, or Hiccup and Astrid…don't? Send your vote (and yes, you can say either or that you don't know.) Send your answer in a PM or review it, either works. Keep in that neither of those options will most definitely happen; I love a plot twist.**

**Thanks, guys! The next chapter is coming soon. I promise. But I REALLY need to work on How To Decide You're Ready To Get Married. REALLY. So after Chapter four of that's up, I set out on chapter 5 of this.**

**Love,**

**Wordwielder**


	6. Chapter 5

**Okay, I know it's been a month. But I have had CRIPPLING writer's block- on BOTH stories. I felt so terrible when I realized this, I cut short my plan for this chapter, which was this chapter, what will be chapter six, and half of chapter 7. My holes in the middle were what was keeping this down. But you've waited long enough, so without further ado, chapter 5!**

If this were one of the those scandalous-cover- that-promises-drama-and-turns-out to-be-a-secret-moral-learn-about-acceptance-of-everyone-book, then this whole alliance would work out perfectly and the real reason Astrid is so evil would be because she's in an abusive home or something, and then they'd become best friends and Hiccup and Astrid would get married and they'd have a bunch of pretty, genius kids with green eyes like Hiccup's.

If only it were so easy.

Lindsay's eyes keep shifting to the passenger's side. Nope, it's not a scrawny nerd making faces at her sitting there.

It's Astrid Hofferson.

"Um, my house is on this road," she says. Lindsay nods. She's seriously thinking she needs a psychiatric appointment. Stat. Really, it's too late to be regretting this, because they're turning in Astrid's driveway. Yep, that's right; she could be at Hiccup's talking to someone she actually likes, but she's going to her worst enemy's to hang out and strategize for the said worst enemy to get her best friend.

Really, she has to be insane.

Oh, even more nuts, she lied to Hiccup about where she was going. She's never lied to him before, and it feels worse than jeans a size too small.

She parks the car.

Astrid's house is normal. It's unremarkable. It's not the imposing size of Hiccup's my-dad-owns-a-company-so-our-place-is-practically-a-castle house, or even the we-need-all-the-space-we-can-get size of Lindsay's house; it's not small either. Just an average midsize yellow rancher. This unsettles Lindsay more than anything, that it's so very normal. There'll probably be displays of weapons every couple of feet inside. Oh, God, what if her parents are there? What if they think they're _friends_? Lindsay may have to make a break for it right then.

Oh, wonderful. The minute they walk in, Astrid's mom greets them. "Hi, honey! Who's this?" She's the older version of Astrid: perfect. She's fit, beautiful, and clearly an awesome mom. Who else actually gets up to meet their kids? And is she imagining the smell of cookies wafting form the kitchen?

"I'm Lindsay," she says, adding her meeting-parents smile. "It's wonderful to meet you."

Astrid's mom grins. Polite teen! Gasp! "Would you girls like some cookies?"

Aha! She really is perfect! She makes COOKIES!

"Nah, Mom, maybe later," Astrid says. "We've got a lot of work to do."

Lindsay looks over Astrid. She tries to hide her smirk. "Oh, a lot to do."

Astrid leads her to her room. It's painted a very pale blue, a little sloppy but not to Hiccup levels of messiness. Her homework is sprawled across her desk; pictures are pinned to the wall and framed on shelves. She's a got a small bookshelf in the corner. Lindsay kneels to read the spines of the books. Surprisingly, they've got some shared books: Stephen King in all his glorious strangeness, the Hunger Games, the Luxe books, Pretty Little Liars, Harry Potter. Lindsay wants to make some Potter references, but not everyone is as mad about HP as she is, and she doesn't want to get a blank look back. She has before. Lindsay stands back up and sits in Astrid's beanbag chair, tossing aside a couple hoodies and a Converse sneaker. She opens her mouth fully intending to start her instruction of How to Woo Hiccup, but then realized she has no idea what to say. Astrid looking as her like an eager student on the first day of school isn't helping.

"Um."

She thinks. Hiccup. Hiccup with his sarcasm and his clumsiness and sweetness. Think about Hiccup. "Don't act like someone you're not for him. He'd hate that. He's original, y'know? He won't want someone unoriginal; he won't want someone who hides who they are."

She feels like her words hit home. Not that Astrid reacts; but the tide shifts in her ocean eyes. She keeps going.

"He's really sweet. He believes in all that chivalry stuff; it took forever to convince him he didn't have to open my car door for me. So, I know you're super independent, but don't act rude to him if he does stuff like that." She breathes.

"But how do I get him to—?"

"Notice you?" Lindsay raises her eyebrows. "I don't know, Astrid, maybe acknowledge he exists instead of pushing him into walls?" She sighs, frustrated; she made herself swear she'd be civil, and she's already slipping. "Be nice. Say hi. Tolerate the stammering. He's a pretty wonderful person, I wouldn't worry about that part much. But," she continues, reclining her feet on Astrid's bed, "he's super shy. You will be making all the first moves, 'kay?"

Astrid greens. "No, I can't." Lindsay's eyes narrow. Oh, so she's worried about the rumors flying: _Astrid Hofferson asked out Hiccup Haddock!_ "Do you care about him or what that idiot Scoot Lout thinks?" she demands.

"Scott," Astrid corrects quietly.

"Whatever! I know you two are like the on and off it couple or something, but he makes an amoeba look like a genius. I don't care what he thinks about me and I suggest you adopt the same attitude," Lindsay snaps back. Astrid shrinks. Lindsay's pleased; she's getting pretty good at this pushing-Astrid-back thing. Heck, if they both survive this alliance, they may end up becoming sort-of friends. Okay, never mind; that thought is too revolutionary. No longer hating each other, then.

Astrid straightens and Lindsay reminds herself she's trying to be nice, not get pounded into Astrid's floor. "Just, you talk to him first. He'll figure out how to approach you eventually. Eventually," she repeats.

Astrid nods, determinedly.

"I mean, he got used to me," she continues.

"You and him are really close," Astrid observes, and there's an edge of something creeping into her voice. Is she…jealous?

"Yeah. Best friends." She breathes. "I have an idea to get the ball rolling," she tells Astrid. "First, a question: how well can you cook?"

* * *

><p>"Hiccup," Lindsay asks, "What would you do if Astrid Hofferson asked you out?"<p>

Hiccup chokes on his apple. "What?"

"What would you do if Astrid Hofferson asked you out?"

"Die from shock," he says, using his foot to pet Toothless.

She half-heartedly throws a pillow at him. "For real. What would you say?"

"Are you on drugs?" he demands. "Because you're acting really strange."

"More than normal?" she jokes.

"If that's possible…yes." She throws his foot off of Toothless; he puts it right back. She gets a mischievous glint in her eye and takes off her lime green converse. She kicks his leg off and puts hers where it was. He kicks her back.

"This could go on," she says.

"Bring it."

After a ferocious kicking battle in which she's sure they'll both get bruises from, she lets him put his leg up. She waits until he's back interested in whatever prototype he's sketching before she attacks his foot with her toes.

"Gahh! Stop, that tickles!" He shrieks.

"NEVER!"

"Okay then!" He tackles her with un-Hiccup-like strength and starts tickling her belly. The worst thing is she's SUPER ticklish. She's laughing so hard she can't even breathe enough to beg him to quit.

Their eyes meet and time freezes. Hiccup suddenly realizes he's horizontal on her and scrambles up, cheeks burning. It feels like something just changed between them and it's completely awkward now. Lindsay puts her shoe back on slowly and fiddles with her pencil. "So what would you do?" she asks again.

Hiccup shifts. "I don't know what I'd do if any girl asked me out, much less Astrid Hofferson." Something occurs to him, and he asks before he wonders if she'll mind: "Did you ever have a boyfriend?"

She blushes. "Yeah. Nick… Aidan. Then last year, I almost did…it didn't work out."

"What were they like?"

She smiles, her eyes vague with remembrance as she looks past him to the past. "Nick was sweet. He was always slipping me notes and I never figured out how. I'd find them in my gym shoes, my science notebook, the pocket of my coat. He moved after we'd gone out for about eight months. California was just too far to keep it going. Aidan was hilarious; he could always make me laugh. He was just enough taller than me. Then there was Matt Hybrod…that just wasn't meant to be." She rushes through the last words.

"Why?"

"He liked someone else." She strokes Toothless' snout. "What about you?"

"Not really."

"Oh, come on, you're telling me no one wanted a Hiccup lovemuffin?"

"Did you just call me a lovemuffin?"

"Yes. Obviously, I need to work on my slang. Seriously, though?"

"This is so good for my self-esteem," he mutters.

"I said I didn't believe no one wanted all of this!"

"Well, they didn't," he shoots back.

"Their loss," she says, and there's a note of fierceness in it. "You are a _great _guy. About time A— people figure it out." Her skin flushes and she gets up awkwardly. "I should go..." She shoulders her backpack and looks back at him like there's something she wants to say. "Bye," she says finally.

* * *

><p>Hiccup doesn't know what to think when Astrid not only talks to him, but she doesn't punch his lights out.<p>

He's really flabbergasted when she offers him peanut butter-cinnamon cookies.

How does she know they're his favorite, because of when his mom used to make them? Is this a coincidence? Are they poisoned with ipecac, arsenic? Will she beat him up if he doesn't take one?

Is she just being genuinely nice?

"Um, thank you?" He offers, nibbling a cookie. "It's good," he says, surprised. "Thanks, Astrid."

She smiles so widely—at _him_— he feels like he's about to faint. "You're welcome."

"Thanks,' he repeats.

"See you later, Hiccup," she says downright cheerfully as she jaunts off.

_She voluntarily wants to see him later? _

He slumps against the wall, his eyes locked on the direction she disappeared in.

Someone elbows his ribs. "Are you catatonic?" Lindsay demands. "Do I need to page someone?"

"Fine," he manages. She glances down at the cookie he's still clutching.

"Who gave you that?" She asks casually.

"A-Astrid."

Lindsay tilts her head, smiling inscrutably. "Are you hallucinating again?"

"Maybe."

"Well, let me have some cookie anyway."

**Love it? Hate it? Gonna gripe at me for being really slow on the update? then REVIEW! The goods news is after my _three _papers are turned in next week, I finally get out on Winter Break. So for those glorious three weeks, you'll be seeing me fairly often; it's quite probable I'll wrap up both this and How To Decide You're Ready To Get Married.**

**Thanks to the reviewers for chapter 4: Voldyne, sora nii, neko no utah, yssacu, disneyisbeautiful, mks 12 98, Ella Unlimited, and TreepeltA113. Merci, mes amis who voted: Voldyne, crazyRNThead, HunterNite, mks 12 98, Corinne JustBlossom, Ella Unlimited, Reader, color-changin-enigma, mks 12 98 (again!) ASTRIDHICCUP, Bridget, Midnight 4568, Anonymous, and Me. **

**SonOfLucifer: Thanks! Keep reading to find out ;)**

**HunterNite and disneyisbeautiful: WHOAAA you guys are fast. I LOVE you!**

**Thanks to my story alert people: mylife00 and TolkienNerd4832, and my fav story: Midnight4568 and mylife00.**

**Next chapter soon!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Okay, this is where it gets good. *mysterious smile* Read on, my loves!**

It gets weirder.

One, Lindsay's been oddly busy lately; he and Toothless have had a fair amount of just-them time in the afternoons. Two, Astrid Hofferson is going out of her way to talk to him. Not just talk…_flirt?_

Hiccup acknowledges he's obtuse when it comes to flirting, whether in doing so or interpreting it. But he's pretty sure smiling radiantly, grazing your hand across the other person's arm, and laughing at his feeble top-of-his-head jokes constitutes as flirting. And check, check, and check, Astrid's doing it all.

He mentions it to Lindsay, but she just smiles in that indecipherable way and says, "Sounds likes she might like you, lovemuffin."

"I thought we agreed lovemuffin shouldn't be used."

"I think it applies here."

"I think we shouldn't use that word."

"I think you should shut up about my word choice."

"I think you should—oh, this could go on all day."

She grins. "It could."

"For real, isn't the Astrid thing weird?"

She shrugs. "Maybe she's figured out the whole sweet-nerd-is-perfect-for-her-thing."

"After, what, eight years?"

"Oh, you're complaining about _timing_?"

"It's just strange that it happened so...randomly." She smacks his arm. "You're so picky!"

"You're so violent!"

"Because Astrid will be better with violence."

"It's not like I'm—oh, just be quiet."

She smirks. Argument won.

* * *

><p>Lindsay reclines in the beanbag chair. It's beyond sad that she's comfortable in this seat; she's been spending more time than she'd like to recall in Astrid's room. She has new respect for coaches, because it is freaking hard work. She's had to practically make a book of how to flirt (psh, like <em>she<em> knows better than Astrid) and give frequent pep talks to keep her nerve up. And now Hiccup's suspicious so she'll have to figure out how to work around that too.

She better get a good birthday present for this. And free cookies. And—well, he better be _grateful_.

"He's not convinced."

"What? I'm talking to him! And taking a lot of crap for it, I'll have you know!"

"Exactly—he can't believe you're talking to him."

Astrid looks, for a second that passes in a heartbeat, defeated.

Lindsay stands. "It's time you just tell him the truth."

"What?" Astrid shrieks.

Lindsay shrugs, "He thinks you're just trying to hurt him. Can't blame him, really. The only way to convince him you're honest is to _be _honest." She feels a stab of reproach at those words and doesn't want to analyze why. "There's nothing else I can say, Astrid. I really… tried." She sways, almost collapsing. Trying seems so trivial. She tried so hard.

Astrid's shoulders hunch. "I know. Lindsay—I-I'll try."

There's nothing else she can ask of her.

* * *

><p>Hiccup's exasperated.<p>

Lindsay's walking around with a terrible air of defeat. She's distracted and when he addresses it she denies it with a snappy comeback that makes him laugh and distracts him until later and he remembers what he was trying to ask.

Astrid is avoiding him. Where she was going out of her way to talk to him, she's now averting her eyes. This only reaffirms that terrible doubt that someone put her up to it; that he never liked him and never will. He'd try to talk to Lindsay about this, but he'll make her cry, or worse, attack Astrid.

He's sent Lindsay on to Theatre when Astrid yanks him into a storage closet.

His first thought is to calculate how far he can run before she catches him, to minimizes the damge she is undoubtedly going to do to his face.

Needless to say, he is not expecting what she says next:

"Hiccup. I—I think I— I think I love you. "

His lips grapple to form a word of response.

"Wha—? I—you—what?" This is a dream, it has to be, there is no freaking way.

"I think I love you."

"You _think_?"

"I do."

"I—I—" Oh, hell. "Do you want to go on a—activity?"

She blinks. "Do you mean a date?"

"I, um, yes."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Um, I'll call you?"

He blinks. "You have my number?"

She smiles enigmatically and waves goodbye; she vanishes like a nymph down the hallway.

He wakes up at the next bell with the lovely realization he passed out from shock in the janitor's closet. This is what shock does for you. Hey, at least it didn't kill him.

* * *

><p>Lindsay's ringtone, stolen from <em>Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, <em>blares: "Lindsay, you have a call! Lindsay, you have a call! Lindsay, you have a call!" She tears her eyes from her history book and picks up, irritated at the interruption: "Yes?"

"Hey," Hiccup's voice streams through the phone.

"Hey, lovemuffin. What do you need?" _Please be quick; so much reading left. _

"We can't hang out tomorrow, okay? I'm sor—"

"Okay, sure, yeah." She tries to find her place again. Something about Henry VIII.

"Okay? You sure?"

"Uh-huh." She starts reading again.

"Oh." He pauses. 'Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Bye, muffin."

"Bye."

She hangs up, re-immerses herself in the Tudors, and promptly forgets the call.

* * *

><p>Hiccup, recently licensed, picks up Astrid and takes her to dinner at Olive Garden, which he knows is her favorite restaurant. He pays, gallantly. They talk and he's floating on air because she's really laughing with him, not at him, and she likes him. He offers to drive her home, but she senses that he really doesn't want to part yet and they're back at his house.<p>

The kissing is pretty great.

All of this evening has been pretty great.

What comes next? Not so much.

* * *

><p>"It's practically subarctic out there," Lindsay complains cheerfully, hanging her watermelon colored Peacoat next to Stoick's suit jackets and Hiccup's hoodie in a completely natural gesture. "Okay, do you want to start with biology or Eng—" her words seep out of her open mouth as she turns to see Astrid and Hiccup entangled together.<p>

She crosses the kitchen in two furious bounds and yanks them apart by their hair. Hiccup opens his eyes to a catch a glimpse of a miserable, wounded, repulsed face and eyes that are shining unnaturally; he only has time to feel ashamed before her fist rams into his nose.

**Oh, I'm going to get flamed for that cliffie. Oh well. I face it bravely. Review!**

**HunterNite: Tis not the end :) I can promise 2 more chapters at least.**

**Punzie the Platypus: IKR! cookies ;) thank you, my love. I hope you like this chapter, even with my evil cliffie ;)**

**mks 12 98: I LOVE your multiple reviews. Do not stop them! Ever! And thank you! And nothing is promised. Anything. If you guys didn't get it already, I love a plot twist (hm, the end of this chapter).**

**SonOfLucifer: "Perfect"? "Just too good"? I love you!**

**Voldyne: Lol THANK YOU! you're a very kind person for that ;)**

**Midnight4568: I kind of went for that effect. I love can't waits, thank you :)**

**Ella Unlimited: I hope this clarified the change; let me know if it needs more and I'll edit. Astrid's father may appear as well.**

**CamiKlaus 24-7: Most definately a triangle! ;)**

**And thanks to... the people who added me to author alerts: Ananbeth the Unicorn, MWA220; their fav stories: Mello's-Dark-Chocolate; and their favorite authors: Samantha Spanner.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Oh, I'll get flamed for this chapter. Oh well. The story must go on.**

"I'm so sorry," she apologizes, for the thousandth time.

"It's okay, I'm fined," Hiccup says, for the thousandth time.

"It's not okay, you're still putting a D on fine!" she wails.

Astrid glares. "What were you doing here anyway?"

"I forgot you told me we weren't studying for the tests today. I wrote on my mirror last week about today so I wouldn't forget, and I forgot to wipe it off…" her voice gets quieter with each word. "Does it hurt too badly?"

"Nah," Hiccup assures as Astrid snaps, "Yes!"

"Shut it, Blondie!" Lindsay snarls. "Your nose isn't the bleeding one! Though that can most certainly be arranged…"

"Oh, you want to go there?"

Hiccup blinks. "Guys."

"Don't push me, Astrid Hofferson. The only reason you're even here is because of m-"

"I think Hiccup invited me here, not you, you—"

"He invited me here too!"

"Guys!"

"He just canceled on you," Astrid returns smugly.

Lindsay swells, her teeth flashing not in a smile but a snarl. "I don't need an invitation to be with my friend," she says, her words clipped and sharp. "Don't forget how I—" She looks at Hiccup. "I should go. Let you two get back to…" her voice darkens. Impulsively, she seizes him in a rough embrace. He feels her press her face into his shoulder before she pushes away, grabbing her coat almost savagely. She opens the door and rams into a solid wall.

"An' who's this?" His father asks, eyebrows raised.

* * *

><p>Stoick takes in the scene before him: his son holding an ice pack to his swollen nose, a girl who looks like she's ready to pounce, and another fleeing the scene.<p>

Lindsay recovers first. "Hi, sir. I'm Lindsay. Has Hiccup mentioned me?"

"I believe so. Excuse me, lassie." He slips awkwardly past her into the warm house. "Are you leaving?"

"Um." She tries not to look too tormented. "I was, but I can stay a… while longer." She's not going to run off the first time she's meeting Hiccup's dad. Not to mention, she's curious about Stoick. The way Hiccup represents him….

"And you?" Stoick asks Astrid.

"Astrid Hofferson."

Stoick pulls at his long beard. "Astrid. I know that name, don' I?"

Hiccup speaks up. "Dad, she's been in my classes since kindergarten."

Stoick grunts. 'Oh." Then: "Son, why are you talkin' like tha'?"

Lindsay bites her lip. Hiccup smiles self-deprecatingly. "Oh, you know me," he says. "Fell just a little."

"On the stairs," Lindsay adds. "He's an even worse klutz than me!"

"Hit my nose," he continues. Stoick nods. "I'm going to go change, son." He lumbers upstairs.

Lindsay mouths at Hiccup, "_Thank you."_

"_No problem."_

Astrid waits until Stoick's out of earshot. "What?" she hisses.

Hiccup shakes his head. "I'd prefer to not let my father know a girl punched me."

Lindsay smiles, grimly amused, and he doesn't like that at all. "I should go. Bye, Hiccup." She doesn't even acknowledge Astrid.

She tries not to, but still manages to slam the door on the way out.

* * *

><p>Stoick asks Hiccup later, "Okay, which one is your girl?"<p>

"What? My—? No! Just—no!"

Stoick looks very confused. "Hiccup, son, is there something you want to tell—"

"NO!"

"Well, son, you're in a room with two beautiful girls who both like—"

"Lindsay—is not—does not…she does not!"

"Really? So she didn't punch you?"

"I wasn't punched…" he protests feebly.

"Son, I've been punched in the nose before, I know what it looks like."

"I fell." It sounds unconvincing to even him.

"Son, my theory…"

_Oh, how I want to hear this._

"You and Astrid are dating."

"Um, _no_."

"Close, then. Lindsay's jealous and punched you a good one, which was why she tried to escape, and why her eyes were red."

Crap, he actually _noticed_ something for once.

"Should I talk to her?" He asks, uncertain.

"I don' know. Should you?"

This is why he doesn't talk to his dad.

* * *

><p>Lindsay looks away in the hall.<p>

She doesn't throw notes at him in English.

She skips lunch and he has no idea whether he should sit at the table.

She doesn't say anything to him at all.

He kind of wishes he was dead so he wouldn't have endure this.

* * *

><p>He thought maybe after whatever the hell that was last night, and how she avoided him today, she wouldn't ride him home, but she does. She smiles vaguely as he climbs in and turns the radio on automatically.<p>

She's quiet, like she's off in some castle in the sky. They're turning in his driveway before she says, "Hiccup."

"Yes?" He realized he rushed his words, desperate to know everything's okay.

She's avoiding his eyes. "I, um. I have a…date tonight."

"A—who?"

"You know Fishlegs, right?"

He blinks. "Fishlegs?" He's never even seen her _talk_ to Fishlegs.

"Yeah." She laughs nervously. "You guys are kinda friends, right?"

"Kind of."

"You know his real name is Ethan? I wonder if I should call him that. Or Fishlegs?"

Hiccup shrugs.

"We're just going to go to a movie," she says quickly. 'He's not my boyfriend or anything."

They both hear the unspoken _yet. _

She wonders why she felt the need to explain herself to Hiccup. He is not her boyfriend or something; she's allowed to go to movies with people. Besides, he obviously saw nothing wrong with tangling his tongue with Astrid's, so why should she hold back?

She stops the car. Hiccup gathers his stuff and waits for her. She shakes her head. "I can't. I have to get ready."

"Okay," he says slowly. "Bye."

He vents to Toothless about how she totally ditched him and she looked perfectly fine, and then he realizes she must have wanted to pull out all the stops for Fishlegs and he groans. "Girls are so weird," he mutters, and Toothless growls as if he agrees. "For real, bud. Be thankful there aren't any of you in America. You'll never have to worry about it."

Toothless purrs smugly. "Don't rub it in," Hiccup grumbles.

* * *

><p>She still can't decide whether it was stupid or not to wear the dress.<p>

Well, it sent a good message to Fishlegs. She is taking this seriously. Also, the dress is long enough she doesn't look like a harlot, but short enough that it flaunts her legs. But then, she is _freezing_. She still doesn't get her reasoning that she'd be fine in a movie theatre in a dress and a light cardigan. For an honors student, she is sometimes what can only be described as lacking in common sense.

The simplest solution would be to snuggle against Fishlegs and absorb some body heat.

But she hesitates.

Fishlegs is sweet. He's chivalrous. He even understood what she meant when she used the word 'canon' in reference to Sherlock Holmes. He's kind of like…

Hiccup.

See, this would be near the perfect first date if _Hiccup would leave her alone. Stop it!_ She wants to scream as his disappointed face from earlier torments her. _Go away! Just—go! _She is _sick_ of remembering him and trying to force him out of her head. She sees his mouth twisting into a grin; she sees him peeling himself off the wall; she sees him petting Toothless; she sees him walking slowly into his house, looking back like she's broken his heart. She hears how he laughs when she mimics Astrid's way of walking like she owns the world; she hears his heart beating as she cries into his shirt. She feels his arms around her.

She wonders if she really is insane. Let's review: Helped her worst enemy get best friend; found best friend kissing worst enemy and punched him; avoided best friend; went on date and can't stop thinking about said best friend. _Where did she make her mistake, kids? How did she ruin everything?_

She had good intentions. _Good intentions mean nothing, _a nasty voice whispers in her mind. _End results matter. _

What is this end result?

Hiccup and Astrid get married, Lindsay being Best Woman and dying to do something besides make a toast?

With that God-awful thought, the movie ends. She blinks and realizes she doesn't remember what happened past the first ten minutes. Great. This ride home might be tricky.

They climb into Fishlegs' Tahoe and start the twenty minute ride to her house. Lindsay breaches the safe topic of Harry Potter before he can ask how she liked the movie. What was it even _called_?

When they park, Fishlegs fidgets. She can read his thoughts; he's wondering whether he ought to kiss her. Should she let him?

No. It's unfair, because, well….she wasn't focusing on him tonight. "Fishlegs—" she begins, but he cuts her off with a smile. "I know. It's okay. You and me aren't… meant to be."

"I still want to be your friend. And I'm not just saying that," she adds quickly. "You're a great guy."

"Just not the right guy," he finishes.

"Yeah." She bites her lip. "I'll see you?"

"Sure."

She unbuckles her seatbelt and climbs out. The cold air hits her legs and she winces; she wants to go in before she turns into an icicle. "Bye, 'Legs."

"Bye, Lindsay." He waves, his smile indecipherable, and backs out.

She should really be relieved that was so easy, he was so understanding. But something niggles at her until after she undresses, puts on her flannel gingerbread pajamas, brushes her hair, and brushes her teeth, until she's in bed staring at her ceiling.

He wasn't surprised.

He expected it, anticipated what she was about to say.

_Not the right guy._

_Oh, my God._

She dives out of bed.

* * *

><p>Hiccup lays flat on his floor and stares at the wall. The handprint in exactly in line with his sight, burning into his eyes. Last week, he said something offhand about how his room had been the same color since they'd moved in, and the next day Lindsay showed up with a bucket of green paint and two rollers, declaring she had no idea how to paint and this should be interesting. It was. It took hours before they were satisfied with their work, surveying it proudly, encrusted with paint form their earlier painting-flecking war. "Not bad," Lindsay said.<p>

"Not bad," he agreed. Lindsay painted her hand black and pressed her palm against the wall before he could ask what she was doing. "An artist signs her work," she explained.

He lays his hand over the handprint. Her hand is smaller than his, her fingers narrower. His mind latches on those fingers, the ones she coils when she's writing, the ones she taps during the last ten minutes of class, the ones she waves at him in the hallways, the ones she squeezed his hand with…

Should he know that much about her _fingers_?

Astrid's always been his dream.

_Is that all she is? A dream?_

Astrid's always been a fantasy, his fantasy.

Lindsay's real. She's rough and imperfect and sometimes she confuses him more than anyone, even the puzzling Astrid Hofferson, has, with the way she looks at him and how she avoids questions and even him sometimes like she's try to hide something. Yet, she's the most honest person he knows. She doesn't lie to him and never has, and he thinks it's rare to find such truth in someone. She's doesn't care what anyone says about her and he envies that. She's carefree with herself and nerdy and admits it. She's nurturing and tough about it, fierce when she protects someone; kind of like Toothless, really. She notices things about himself he's never picked up on and it's unnerving and fascinating that she asks about a scar he doesn't even remember getting. He likes how she shows all her teeth when she smiles, how she laughs loudly and exuberantly. He likes being with her, how he feels around her.

Is it weird, to think about her in a non-friend way?

He closes his eyes and imagines her lips on his, and it's strange but his heart is pounding. He thinks she'd be soft and modest in her kisses; then he wonders why he's pondering her kissing technique. She's not his girlfriend. She in all likelihood never will be. Are her hands calloused, like his, or smooth? How would that feel if he was holding them? No! She's his friend; his only friend. He can't mess this up. He can't scare her away.

His mind resolved, he gets up, stroking the handprint on the wall one last time. Allowing himself to think of the girl who it came from, one last time, before letting her slip away.

The door swings open as he enters the kitchen and she streaks towards him. It takes him a minute to realize she's crashed her lips into his.

* * *

><p>She kisses him with her entire heart, and he can't breathe.<p>

God, this is amazing.

Her hands ghost over his hair, caress his wrists. He's aware that he's reacting similarly, combing through her waves and touching the soft skin of her face. It feels like a firecracker's bursting in him and fireworks are spreading across the sky.

_'Cause baby, you're a firework_

_Come on, show 'em what you're worth_

_Make 'em go, oh_

_As you shoot across the sky_

_Baby, you're a firework_

_Come on, let your colors burst_

_Make 'em go, oh_

_You're gonna leave 'em falling down_

So much for scaring her away.

She breaks away, her eyes wide as she gasps. "Sorry," she whispers. "I had to just see…" She shakes her head. "I'm sorry I've been so insane. It's okay if you're with her. The popular girl's finally figured the sweet nerd's right for her." Her voice cracks but she hides it. "I'm not going to get in your way." She steps away and he frantically catches her wrist. "What?' his voice shakes.

She flushes. "I shouldn't have done that. I've messed us up, haven't I?"

"What—no!" His voice is way too desperate. "No. Maybe…maybe the sweet nerd's not right for the popular girl who he's loved since birth after all."

She stares at him. "What did you, what just—?"

He kisses her and he swears this is the craziest thing he's ever done, but oh well because she's kissing him back and he now knows the texture of her hands. She pulls away again, and asks him in a bewildered voice, "I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

He laughs and pulls her back in.

Of course, this is the moment Astrid walks in.

"Way to ruin the mood," Lindsay sighs as Astrid starts to screech.

**I feel the flamers coming...but bring it on! I tried to stick with the original plan, but it felt forced and poorly written. Then I went with what I was feeling and I love it. So...like I said: bring on the flames. I can stand the heat! :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**I am on a freaking roll this week: I've updated all my running stories. I apologize for the wait on this. I recently started a drabble fic of Sherlock Holmes and I've gotten a bit involved, and neglected this.**

"Yep, this is how it feels," Lindsay says. "Got to give you some credit Astrid, you didn't try to break Hiccup's nose like I did." She presses it with her fingers cautiously. "It's okay now, right?"

"Fine," he reassures.

Astrid scowls. Right. Keep the touching to a minimum. Still, her hand creeps to curl around his. She should let go, but she doesn't want to.

"I can't believe you," Astrid growls at her. "Were you trying to sabotage me this whole time?"

Hiccup blinks. "Huh?"

Lindsay looks at him, her face guarded. "Hiccup. Please go upstairs for a minute, okay?"

"Okay, I'm fine with getting kicked out of my own kitchen…" He cocks his head but leaves the room.

Lindsay and Astrid's eyes meet. "Astrid," Lindsay pleads.

"I hate you," she spits. Her voice is venomous, but Lindsay sees her eyes are glassy with tears. She is dissolving, inside out.

"Hit me." Lindsay says it clearly. She is calm and detached and ready for the blow. "I deserve it. Go ahead. I won't stop you." She just hopes it won't bruise too badly. She closes her eyes and waits.

Astrid does not strike.

The sound hits her ears first, air-sucking in and being released. Weeping, keening like a lost child. She peeks open her eyes and Astrid is listing, the tide leaping out of her ocean-eyes.

She approaches her carefully, like she would a wounded animal. She takes the tiny form in her arms and tells her, "I'll drive you home."

* * *

><p>The car idles outside of Astrid's house. She has stopped crying. She is not indifferent. She's hiding.<p>

"I know you hate me right now," Lindsay says.

"Sort of, yeah," Astrid shots at her.

"It's okay. You need to hate me right now. I understand."

"How do you understand?" Astrid glares._ Don't be pretentious, acting like you know me and my life. You don't._

Lindsay's eyes fill with a bitter sadness. "You don't remember. Why should you? I was just background to you." She shakes her head. "You should eat the expensive ice cream and watch The Notebook," She advises. "And…" she hesitates. "Call me if you need a friend."

Astrid stares. "You."

"Astrid, I think I'm the closest thing to real you have, believe it or not."

* * *

><p>Lindsay's sad surprise needles Astrid.<p>

What does she mean, you don't remember?

She has only been in this district since ninth grade. It has to have been since then. She pulls out that year's yearbook.

It feels soothing to re-immerse herself to good memories, in a time before she cared what Hiccup did at all, much less who he kissed. Friends, honor roll, track, games. She turns the page and smiles: the winter formal. She wore a gorgeous lake blue dress that swept the floor and matched her eyes, and her date was Matt Hybrod: tall, dark-haired, and smart. That night had been their first kiss; the next day, they became a couple. They lasted two months.

There's the picture of them as Ice Queen and King, in their first dance, spotlighted and smiling.

Wait.

She focuses past them, and she recognizes a white, miserable face in the background behind them, looking directly at them but unnoticed by them both.

_I was just background to you._

Lindsay.

In a sickening wave she remembers. Lindsay and Matt were talking, until…

Oh, Christ.

I understand.

Lindsay might have stolen her almost-boyfriend, but she did the same first.

* * *

><p>The hoodie is as familiar as her face in the mirror, as soft and warm as its owner. She strokes the sleeve as two narrow arms encircle her. Hair tickles her cheek and she giggles. "Thanks for the jacket," she says.<p>

"I don't want you cold."

"Chivalrous," she murmurs.

"I try."

She turns her head to kiss the lips of Hiccup Haddock. "Don't get too confident over that," she warns, thinking about how his smell is embedded in this worn jacket.

"Duly noted, Mistress."

She groan-laughs. "Smart aleck."

"There is one thing I don't understand."

"Something you don't understand?"

He rolls his eyes. 'How did Astrid know all those things? Like my phone number? And my favorite cookies?"

"Well…Astrid wasn't exactly working alone. I was the accomplice," she confesses. "Astrid told me she loved you and I…offered to help."

"You hate Astrid."

"I did."

"Then why would you—?"

Her eyes widen on his. "For you," she says. "You wanted her so badly." She sighs, doodling with her fingertip on the skin of his hand. "So I started coaching her. I sort of borrowed your mom's recipe from your kitchen. She's good cook," she adds positively. "Eventually, you got suspicious, so she told you how she felt. You know the rest."

"You did that for me?" His voice is oddly husky. She shrugs. "Well, yeah. You're my best friend, Hiccup. You'd have done it for me." He tries to imagine that; helping, say, Snoutlout, get his best friend. He feels a bit like retching.

"Yeah, I would have," he says. It's true. Sometimes, love is a sacrifice. Sometimes, it's the greatest act of love. "Is Astrid okay?"

Lindsay pauses. "I think she's going to be. I also think she might take a hit out on me."

"Don't be overdramatic."

"I'm not kidding. She threw volleyballs at me for talking to you, how do you think she's going to react to all this?"

He has no answer that he'd like to say. He satisfies himself with a kiss.

* * *

><p>Lindsay knows she said call me if you need anything, but it's seven on a freaking Saturday and she answers the phone groggy and slightly annoyed, "What?"<p>

Astrid's voice is like sound of wind against willow branches: soft, reminiscent of tears. "I remembered."

"Oh." She can't thank of anything else to say. Not it's okay, because Astrid cast her off like a leper and never apologized and Lindsay isn't going to take that meekly.

"You should hate me," Astrid whispers. "Do you?"

"No." The reply is automatic, but not in the "yes-grandma-I-love-the-sweater" kind of way, but the way of immediate, unquestionable truth. "I used to."

"What changed?"

"I realized you weren't perfect."

Astrid pauses. "Do you want to meet somewhere for breakfast?"

The Denny's is nearly deserted, with the cook, two other customers who have clearly just finished jogs and a waitress there. They both order the sampler platter. Lindsay eyes Astrid's sweatpants and ponytail. "So, how are you actually doing?"

Astrid shrugs. "I'm past angry, cried all night, and now I'm just exhausted."

Lindsay smiles into her orange juice. "So pretty good."

Astrid's face twitches with what might be a little smile. "Guess so."

"So, do you hate me?" Lindsay asks, eyebrows raised along with her fork.

Astrid pauses, searches inside herself for the pulsating anger. "No."

"Why?"

"I started to understand you."

"Astrid," Lindsay says seriously. "I want us to stop just tolerating each other. I want to be your friend. If you'll let me. But I'm not giving up Hiccup for that."

"I'm not happy about you two."

Lindsay waits.

"But I thought on the way here, and…" She shakes her head. "I screwed up my chance with Hiccup. Not you, ME. He's liked me for God knows how long—"

"Since second grade," Lindsay says, matter-of-factly.

"—and I knew that the whole time. And I never did anything. I was just…cruel. You were right on target what you said about me. I've used him. I've hurt him. He deserves," she breathes in. "someone who won't ever hurt him. Someone who helps him up instead of pushing him down."

Lindsay nods. "I can promise that."

Astrid nods. "Good. Or I'll have to kick your ass."

Lindsay tries to keep a straight face but busts out laughing. "You sound just like me!"

Astrid shrugs. "Could be worse things."

Lindsay grins out the window. If you told her last month she'd be sort-of friends with this girl, she would have asked what pharmaceuticals you were abusing. Ah, but things change; people change. And a good thing too.

**Not my last chapter, darlings, but the end is near. Review and get love!**


	10. Chapter 9

**So my plan was to wrap this little story up with this chapter, short and sweet epilogue. Nope, my epilogue spawned a plot bunny. So this? not the last chapter. **

Lindsay's grinning like a Cheshire cat when she pulls up to Hiccup's that afternoon. She turns off the engine and barges in his house in a way that could be considered rude, but screw it, this is practically her house too. "Lovemuffin," she yells, kicking off her shoes, "You will never believe—" she rounds into the kitchen and freezes. "Hi, Mr. Haddock," she stammers. "Hi, Hiccup. Is this a, um, bad time? Because if it is, I am totally okay with—"

"No," Stoick replies. "Of course not, lass."

Crap. At least Hiccup looks pleased to see her. She tentatively sits at the counter with them. Hiccup stands and crosses to her, granting a quick peck on her lips. She blushes, "Hiccup, you moron, your father is right here!" She hisses.

"Yep," Hiccup grins. He turns to face the massive man. "Dad, you know Lindsay my friend. This is Lindsay, my girlfriend." She smiles without thinking about it before punching his arm, not too hard. "You goof," she scolds, but he knows she doesn't mean anything by it. "It's good to meet you when I'm in a better mood, Mr. Haddock."

Stoick's eyes twinkle. "Ay, lass."

"Mr. Haddock? Can you just excuse us a moment?" She asks sweetly. She drags him out of his father's earshot and says firmly, "There's someone else you should introduce him to." She makes a cat claw with her hand.

"No! He'll—"

"No without warning," she corrects. "Not like how I met the charming mammal. Explain first." She squeezes his hand. "I'll help."

He hesitates.

"You always say you're not close because you never lived up to his expectations. Maybe you should try to give him some expectations to meet."

"It hasn't ever been close. Especially after my mom died…she understood me, but he never…"

"I understand you." She steps closer. "And I understand if you don't say something and keep lying you'll just feel guiltier and guiltier as time passes and it'll hurt more for him to find out, which he will eventually, and he'll do something stupid. Or you will. Or both. Since genius in chromosomal, I figure idiocy is too."

"You have such a way with words," he replies.

She makes a face. "Fine. No words." She kisses him, sweet and gentle with a certain willfulness to it. "Better?"

He asks: "You'll be with me?"

"Always."

"I hate to say it…but you're right."

She grins. "Aren't I always?"

He rolls his eyes. "So modest this girl is."

She grabs his hand again. "Ready?" She's serious now, far more prepared than he is.

"Okay," he reassures himself. "Let's go give my father a heart attack."

**Said it wasn't the end. Didn't say it wasn't shorter than a toddler. **

**So, hm, how will this meeting go?...you'll find out. **


	11. Chapter 10

Toothless raises his head as the girl Lindsay slips into the basement. He gives her a welcome purr. "Hey, bud," she whispers. "You need to come upstairs with me, okay? Hiccup is up there and he needs you."

His boy needs him. His nap can wait.

Toothless clinks up the stairs; the girl waits until his footing is good before she takes up the rear. She opens the door into the hall and Toothless looks for Hiccup. Lindsay leans to look in his yellow-green eyes. "Toothless, Hiccup is in the kitchen. He wants you to meet someone; but not until he says so, okay? We're gonna wait outside." She creeps off the direction of the kitchen; Toothless pads after. They stop just outside.

Hiccup's voice reaches their ears: "Dad, you might be a little mad."

"Son, really, jest spit it out, yeh've jest been makin' me apprehensive… what could you have possibly done?"

"Do you remember those bear traps?"

There is a pause.

"Is this important?"

"Yes. I swear, it relates."

"He's so babbling," Lindsay mutters.

"I forgot one."

Stoick laughs. "Tha' it?"

"Um. Not exactly." He clears his throat.

"Stay here," Lindsay murmurs before striding in the kitchen. "Mr. Haddock, Hiccup caught something in that trap."

"I was getting there!" He hisses.

"You're taking forever," she retorts. She faces Stoick again. "He caught a panther."

Stoick gasps, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Wha'?"

"I kept it," Hiccup spoke up. "I took care of it. I fed it. I named it."

They say together: "Toothless."

"You kept a…? It is two months to April Fools', son!"

"No joke, Dad."

"He's here right now," Lindsay says. Now it is time. She calls to him, and the panther enters the room.

Toothless snarls as Stoick knocks over a chair. "It's okay!" Hiccup yells.

"He won't hurt you," Lindsay promises. She scratches Toothless behind the ears and he visibly relaxes. "See. Just a big kitty."

Toothless growls.

"Big, fierce panther," she corrects.

Stoick begins to sputter at them all. "Look what we've done," Hiccup groans. "I told you—"

"Shut up, this was a good idea! He would have found out sooner or later."

"I would have preferred later."

"Hiccup," she begs, squeezing his trembling hand. "You can't hide him forever…"

Hiccup falls silent, looking at his panther and his father and his best friend. These people are the components of his life. He's put the pieces together wrong, but there is some way they can all fit. He wants them all, forever.

Stoick's eyes land on Lindsay. "An' you knew about this?"

"Um. Yes, a little," she says.

"A little," he repeats.

"A lot," she amends.

"And when did you find out?" It makes sense; he's affronted that the girlfriend knew his son's biggest secret before he had a clue.

"Um, I came over here one day when Hiccup had forgotten to lock Toothless up, and…well, Hiccup's the only reason I'm not in the ground with my face slashed to bits." Hiccup flinches. She bends to stroke Toothless. "He likes me now, huh, bud?" Toothless rubs his snout against her jeans before he looks through his fierce eyes at the bearded man.

This is the first time he has seen this one, though he has smelled his scent, faintly spread through the house. It does not smell like Hiccup, not-soap-rain-pencil-boy, or Lindsay, pomegranate-paper-leaves-girl. This male, the alpha male, smells of fabric-smoke-fur-strength. He is powerful, not to be taken for granted, or trusted; not yet. Dad, Hiccup calls him. Mr. Haddock, Lindsay said. Right. That is his boy's name—Hiccup Haddock. So this man is Hiccup's parent. Not much resemblance, but when he sniffs he can locate just a trace of Hiccup in the man's blood. His boy must be like the in-the-earth mother he once spoke of. There is the tiniest fragment of her scent left in the house, but it has deteriorated and even his keen scent cannot gain much. He smells sunshine-smiles, nothing more. Yes, like his boy.

"How long?" Stoick demands in a soft, dangerous tone.

"Um, well, timing…that's not really important…" Hiccup weakens under his father's gaze. "Okay. It's been about a year."

"A YEAR?" Stoick screeches, and Toothless roars, racing past Lindsay to snarl at the man. His claws pin into his leg, and he knocks the 250 pound man to the ground. Stoick tears him off, but Toothless prepares to lunge again. "No!" Hiccup screams. "Stop!" Toothless cocks his head, bewildered. He was threatening him. It's Toothless' job to protect him. Why stop now? Stoick reaches for the panther, but Lindsay stops him with chilling words: "Don't you _dare_."

He blinks. This 110 pound girl is looking at him she is a poisonous snake with fangs bared. "You don't touch him," she says. "And you don't touch him either," she reprimands Toothless. "Can't you see? He needs you…both of you."

"Dad," Hiccup pleads. "I didn't tell you because…I was afraid you'd have him killed."

"Son," Stoick answers, "I won't…hurt him." His words are awkwardly delivered, but they are truth. Hiccup knows it.

Lindsay watches the smile spread over his thin, freckled face, her heart beating in victory and happiness, before she lets herself out. This is one moment she doesn't have to see- one moment just for them.

**This is one of my favorite chapters. What do _you guys _think? REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Whoa, I'm back! Warning: this chapter will be cute, short, and fluffy. But it will be important later, I swear.**

They're lying splayed across his bed, staring at the ceiling, with Toothless stretched in between and their fingers intertwined. Stoick is downstairs, in his office, talking on the phone; the distant drone is comforting to listen to. Hiccup turns his head to watch her chest rise and fall. She somehow knows, looking at him and smiling. "So you will never believe it," she says.

He raises his eyebrows.

"Astrid went on a date with someone I set her up with, and she told me they had a great time."

Hiccup half-laughs, half sputters. "Seriously? I kind of got the feeling she doesn't generally trust your judgment."

She rolls her eyes. "Mark never shut up about her since ninth grade, he likes sports, he's got a sense of humor. I put the pieces together and arranged it."

"So I guess you weren't his girl next door."

"Well, literally, yes. Figuratively, no. I have way too much dirt on him."

Hiccup raises his eyebrows. "Oh, no," she says. "The point of having dirt on someone is to keep it to yourself until optimally useful."

"I hope you never find an optimally useful time to use any dirt on me," he shudders.

She grins lazily. "Nah. You've got too much on me too."

"Well, we'll just never have to make the other person mad," Hiccup reasons.

She snuggles against him. "I think that can be arranged."

Hiccup admits he was wrong about Astrid not trusting Lindsay's judgment, because as strange as it sounds, they've…bonded. Astrid Hofferson has gone from her arch nemesis to Lindsay's friend. She ditches the other Vikings to sit with them at lunch, and Lindsay smiles at her and says, "That eye shadow is really pretty with your skin tone."

From then on out, it becomes fairly routine for Astrid to eat with their table. In time, the other Vikings drift over, starting with Fishlegs, who relieves Hiccup with another guy to talk to, and Ruffnut then Tuffnut, who never does much without his twin, and finally Snoutlout, who mostly flirts with Astrid and acts like an idiot with Tuff but says absolutely nothing about Hiccup with Lindsay and Astrid both there to castrate him. And Hiccup notices a shift in how they act towards him, a gradual, tiny warming in their attitudes, an increase of respect as he manages to make them laugh and helps with math that comes easily to him but baffles them. Even Snoutlout begins to listen to him, though they'll never be friends.

All he had to do was stop trying to get them to see him.

It's another ordinary night, Toothless lounging on the floor, Hiccup stroking his coat and doing Al 2, Lindsay sitting on the coach above him pounding out a rough draft about how the Industrial Revolution influenced literature of time. She hums along to the Taylor Swift CD she put in the stereo. He looks up at her, her hair coppery against the lamplight, and his heartbeat quickens as she leans over to kiss him. Her hair brushes against his face. "I love this song," She says. She begins to sway, her voice just a little louder:

_And it was enchanting to meet you..._

_All I know is I was enchanted to meet you…_

He pulls her off the couch and wraps an arm around her waist. She grins at him, and they begin to dance, circling around his living room. Lindsay is still singing, but she's closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder.

_This night is sparkling, don't you let it go_

_I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home_

She raises her head and whispers the next words, looking at him in that way that gives him chills.

_I'll spend forever wondering if you knew…_

_This night is flawless, don't you let it go_

_Please don't be in love with someone else_

_Please don't have somebody waiting on you…_

The song ends, but they don't stop dancing. That's when he tells her those three words the first time, and she says them back.

**So Enchanted might seem random to some, but I have always said it would be an awesome slow dance song, and I think it sets up a beautiful moment.**

**So I mentioned 'later'. Yep, we have more chapters coming. Three, probably. I rewatched the movie and got an arc idea that...is coming soon!**

**Review!**

**Oh, and for the curious, my next chapter of Oh, Gods, is running really late, but it IS coming.**


	13. Chapter 12

**And begins my next little arc within this story.**

They're a little busy getting wrapped up in each other, so she's not exactly listening to the radio closely, but she pulls away when she hears escaped African and Asian cats. She edges closer to where they've got the radio plugged in—they're on the porch, so they can just hear it from inside. "Hey, Toothless, your kinsmen are busting out," she calls; Hiccup grins and shushes her so he can hear the announcement. "And in the transport of the creatures from the farm where they had been neglected by an unlicensed owner, a disruption from the cages led to the escape of the creatures. The only cat not recovered is a male tiger, which is not to be approached and at any sighting should be reported to the police. It was last seen off Candle Road at twelve this afternoon. The cat is dangerous because it has not eaten in several days and may attack." Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "Toothless's kinsmen indeed."

"I wonder if anyone ever figured out where he went?" she asks, sliding off his lap because she's probably crushing him.

"Doubtful…at least, no one ever came here. No that I would have given him up," he adds, scratching his panther behind the ears.

"Of course, why give up your dangerous exotic animal?' she teases.

"Gosh, because he's so cuddly."

On cue, Toothless growls. He doesn't appreciate the cute comments, or any variants on the word. They laugh and start that nuzzling thing again. He half-heartedly snarls at them before laying down his head. "He's jealous," Lindsay whispers.

"He'll survive," Hiccup whispers back.

Toothless' growls morph; he stands, his haunches tense. "What's up, bud?" Hiccup asks. They glance over to where his yellow-green orbs are focused, at the tree line by their garbage cans. Hiccup stands and leans forward. "I don't see anything," he frowns. He starts to approach the trash, still squinting.

"Hiccup," she calls, suddenly nervous, "Come back here."

He shrugs. "It's no—"

And then she sees the tiger behind him.

* * *

><p>Toothless is slower than his panther counterparts because of his leg.<p>

But he leaps off the porch and drags himself to his boy in seconds. The tiger is still shrouded in the shadow of the woods. Echoes of growls come to Toothless and he snarls back.

The tiger lunges for Hiccup's throat and Toothless blocks him. Hiccup maneuvers his body so he confuses the tiger between jumping at him or Toothless, and when he chooses him lunges behind Toothless's frame. But when Toothless turns, giant teeth, teeth that dwarf Toothless's, rip out his prosthetic, attached by leather cord because Hiccup doesn't have a veterinary degree and surgical tools to do it properly. Toothless stumbles, and that's all the tiger needs. Toothless throws his body over Hiccup's and Lindsay, who had stayed frozen to keep the tiger calm decides oh, hell, he's not calm now and darts to call 911. "Tiger," she gasps. "He's attacking my boyfriend…please, please, hurry…" she gives the address and grabs the fire poker. It is the closest thing, and it can do damage. Toothless is wrestling the cat, while Hiccup edges from under him. Lindsay breathes, steels herself, and gets into the thick. She conspicuously bangs a garbage can with her poker and the tiger's eyes hit her. He is huge, massive. _The tiger is the largest of all wild cats,_ she thinks, a random Animal Planet thought she remembers looking at those gleaming yellow eyes. Toothless takes the moment of distraction to clamp on the tiger's throat; the tiger roars and flails, finally throwing him off. The creature pounces on his quarry, Hiccup, the only part of him he can reach: his leg. The fangs pierce the skin and claw rake against the muscle and Hiccup shrieks. Lindsay and Toothless attack, Lindsay with her poker and Toothless with his claws. They manage to distract the animal again and Toothless looks at her and she understands. She seizes Hiccup, whose leg is bleeding and disgusting and swelling and looks God-awful. She drags him to the shadow of the house, out of the way, in relative safety. There is no time to put him in the house. He's passing out, and Toothless has just saved his life though he himself is in danger. Lindsay kisses Hiccup, screams, "Don't you dare let go on me!" and returns to end this... without sacrificing Toothless.

Toothless is losing; he is getting battered to pieces. She swallows and screams as loudly and shrilly as she can muster. The tiger looks and she begins to run, knowing he will chase. And he does. He is faster, stronger, the victor of this race. Toothless is following as fast as possible after them—he will save her just as she will save him. She slams into the door, yanks it open, and dodges into the safe house, and slams it. The cat pounds the door, clawing and snarling. Toothless and Hiccup, she realizes, are now in danger. She hears the sirens in the distance and realizes…

Toothless will be seen and perceived as a threat and taken away and—

She has to hide him.

She streaks out the back door and back around; she unceremoniously grabs Toothless' collar and shoves him into the house, banging the door after him, ignoring his screeches. The tiger has found her and she's not sure how long she can distract him. The ambulance pulls in as he begins to pound after her and she sprints as far from Hiccup as she can, because he is down and bleeding and exposed. Easy prey—while she is enough of a challenge to buy time.

Animal Control tranquilizes the beast and she sinks to her knees, coating them in mud. "Hiccup—" she gasps. "Leg—there—" she points. They put both them in the ambulance and drive away, speeding, and she feels nauseous and like rain is falling inside her skull. "Hiccup?" she yells at his flickering eyes. "You stay awake, you understand? You do not sleep!"

"Hurts," he pants.

"They're giving you medicine," she promises, "It'll be okay." But she is starting to melt, dissolving, dams breaking in her head, and she starts to cry. A paramedic separates her from Hiccup; she screams until they give her a sedative and she falls into blackness still screaming for him to stay awake.

* * *

><p>The hospital is bustling, but all the activity stills compared to the pounding of her heart. God, why is it taking so long for the doctor to come? He checked her, proclaimed her uninjured, just exhausted, and promised he would bring news soon. He said he'd come tell them, her and Stoick, who arrived at the hospital within five minutes after the ambulance, what's happening, what's wrong, as soon as possible. If he's not here…is it that bad?<p>

She looks at Stoick, who is gray-faced and exudes fear. It's unsettling—he is the leader. He should be assured, but he's not and that makes it more real. "He'll be okay, right?" she asks. "He can't…" She swallows and begins to unravel her braid again. Something about the undoing and re-braiding calms her, gives a center to focus on. Still, her tears drip. Stoick awkwardly squeezes her shoulder.

She rocks in the chair, chanting please, please, please, her hands clasped, begging God to spare him. She cannot be here without Hiccup. It is unnatural. She cannot voice it…all she says is please, please, please, don't take him...

A doctor trudges down the hall to them. They both jump up. "Is he okay?" One of them asks, Lindsay honestly couldn't tell you which.

"His leg will have to be amputated," the doctor delivers the words with quiet exhaustion.

Lindsay stumbles. "Amputated?"

"From the knee down, where the tiger attacked. The skin and muscle is mutilated and the risk of infection is very high. We've taken him to surgery. We'll keep you updated."

Stoick grabs his arm as he turns. "This is my _son._"

The doctor repeats, "We'll keep you updated," and the waiting begins again with a fresh layer of terror.

**Okay, I wanted to incorporate the Green Death. So, since a tiger is the biggest of all wild cats...see? Yeah, if you guys don't like the idea of Hiccup losign his legs, jsut pretend it ended last chapter. Tahts' fine with me. **

**And that's a cliffie, but I'm not cruel. So the next chapter will be up in some 20 minutes.**

**Don't you love me? ;)**


	14. Chapter 13

It takes hours, she thinks. At one point, she remembers buying bags of chips for them to eat and breaking down when she opened the bag, realizing she had unthinkingly bought salt and vinegar, Hiccup's favorite. She ate them anyway, if only as a nice distraction.

A nurse in Scooby-Doo scrubs comes out and says, "He's still unconscious, but you can come to his room. He's not out of the woods yet." Lindsay jumps up with Stoick, but the nurse's eyes widen guiltily as she says, "Only family, dear."

She wants to scream, "I am his family!" Instead she begs Stoick, "Just—just tell him I love him, okay? And I'll come soon."

"Go ahead home, honey," the nurse says. "You look warmed over death." Suddenly, she remembers Toothless, hastily shoved into the house, not knowing that Hiccup is as safe as he can be. He must be panicking too. "Mr. Haddock!" She yells. "May I have a key?"

Stoick cocks his head.

"I need to feed the cat," she explains, hopefully unsuspicious to the nurse. All they need now is Animal Control poking in.

"Ah," he says, handing over a key, thinking she really just needs one of her own.

She drives straight to the Haddock House. Being here without the promise of time with Hiccup feels anguishing, especially when it hits her that he might never come home.

She sees immediately the effects of their haste in hiding Toothless. The doors, both od them, are shredded, clearly by claws. The cat has been trying to escape since they left. She feels a prick of shame in their selfishness. Without Toothless, Hiccup would have died, and that was how they thanked him.

She flings open the door and Toothless lunges out, snarling. "It's me!" she yells. "I'm sorry, Toothless, I am…."

He stills and looks at her with eyes asking, "Where's Hiccup?"

"Still in the hospital," she says. "He hasn't—woken up yet."

Toothless whimpers and the sound breaks her heart. "I know, bud," she whispers. "I know." The panther twines around her ankles, and she sinks on the steps around him. "I'm scared, Toothless."

Toothless whimpers again, as if in sympathy. "If he dies," she mutters, afraid to even say those evil words, "I don't know what would happen to either of us."

Toothless dips his head. He doesn't know either.

"No wonder Hiccup talks to you so much. You're a good listener," she tells him, and that thought, that talks might become talked, that Hiccup might become past tense, that this amazing, wry, beautiful person might cease to breathe and exist and make her laugh, makes her cry into the night-black coat.

* * *

><p>Stoick calls and tells her the surgery was a success, but Hiccup has fallen in a coma. He hastens to explain that it's been medically induced; Hiccup's body is using all its energy to heal, and the pain is excruciating. He woke up at four this morning screaming about fire and Toothless and the doctors preferred this, time for his body to heal, instead of narcotics. The pain will ebb enough soon for him to go home. "Recovery is still a long way off," Stoick warns. "But…he'll live."<p>

He cuts short her cry of exultation with the simple statement, "You can visit."

She flies out of her house.

When she arrives and the nurse stares at her while she's asking for his room number, she realizes she's in Hiccup's hoodie she stole from his house, a shred of comfort, and yoga pants with her frog slippers. The wild desperation all over her face might not be helping. "234," the woman replies, a little bewildered. "And have a good day."

"You too," she calls behind her as she hurries to catch the elevator.

She finally arrives, and Hiccup is so small under his covers. She finally slows and sits awkwardly by his bed. Stoick smiles at her as widely as he can. "He can hear us, you know," he informs her. "His heart rate increases."

"Really?"

He nods.

"Hey, Hiccup," she says, taking his hand. "You scared me so much, lovemuffin. Don't do that again, okay?"

She looks at the monitor; sure enough, his heart rate had risen. "So Toothless misses you. You guys might have to replace your door."

If she closes her eyes and wishes, she can imagine the beep of the machine into his laugh.

"So I love you," she says, her voice cloud-soft and as malleable as copper. "I know you like hearing that. I do, too." She swallows, trying to contain the tears altering her voice into something high-pitched and fractured. "So wake up soon, okay? So you can tell me." She runs her fingers over his hand and leans to kiss his unmoving lips. She wipes her tears off his cheeks with her sleeve. "Because I'll be waiting. Okay? As long as you want me, I'll be waiting."

* * *

><p>Lindsay knows he loves her. It becomes a source of comfort, the thought: <em>He loves me.<em>

She repeats this mantra increasingly as each day passes, as he does not call.

Hiccup's coma was lifted. A prosthetic was attached. He was sent home. She knows all of this from Stoick, who called to tell her, "But he's not ready to see anyone yet. He'll call when he is."

Two weeks have passed, and she needs to see him so much she feels like she's in withdrawal. She has left a message a day on his phone, just to hear his voice and tell him that she can't wait to see him. The _can't_ is becoming less of a figure of speech.

Finally she calls and says, "If you don't call me back today, I'm coming there. I'm seriously worried, Hiccup." She hangs up—no I-love-yous for someone you're going to kiss then kill.

She goes into the house and up to his room that afternoon. Stoick isn't there, but he's already taken off three weeks and most likely he is trying to pull up his slack at the company.

She knocks. "Hiccup?"

There is no answer. Toothless growls from behind the door, and a voice shushes him. He is there. He is not answering her.

He is alive.

She goes.

* * *

><p>She comes every day to knock and wait. She is patient at first, kind, understanding in his want of solitude, to how he hides in shame and fear. But today she is going to see him, she has to; she will not allow him to isolate himself from her.<p>

Her fists crash against the door, insistent even as they throb. "Hiccup, let me in right now!"

Silence.

"Harrison Henry Haddock the Third, let me in if you ever meant you loved me."

She waits, and the door cracks.

Hiccup's hair is lank. He is bonier than she remembers; has he been eating? Her eyes connect with his, and those jade eyes are tired. "Hey," she says. Then she kisses him, a little more forcefully than is probably wise. She almost knocks him into the door. "God, I missed you," she admits. He smiles, a real Hiccup smile, and she smiles back before punching his arm. "That was for scaring me out of my wits and ignoring me for two weeks! I was freaking out, you moron!" She sits on his bed. "This is a new level of disgusting in here, even for you," she reprimands, gesturing to the clothes that form a small mountain on his floor.

"Funnily enough, I haven't felt like cleaning." His emotions of worthlessness and anger come out in that one remark, that attempt to be himself that came out barbed and not the way he wants to speak to the girl he loves.

She looks at him, her eyes hard. "Hiccup. Don't you dare make yourself some cripple to be pitied. You're alive and that is something that makes you lucky. And I love you, so don't shut me out like I can't understand you anymore. I _know _you. I know you—" She presses her lips to his again. "And you know it."

"I'm not okay," he whispers. Tears gather in his eyes because he's not sure he'll ever be.

"Who says I need you to be okay?" She demands. "I don't care what your leg looks like. You're still mine. You always are mine. I'm always yours. That's it, okay? Nothing's changed. That—" She gestures to his leg. "isn't what I love. All this, that's what I love."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Absolutely." She stands and begins to gather his dirty clothes off the floor. "Now we are cleaning this mess."

Nothing has changed, alright.

His face brightens with his old grin, and he begins to help her.

* * *

><p>"Hiccup!"<p>

"Man, we thought you were dead!"

"You wouldn't answer your phone—"

"Your dad wouldn't tell us anything…"

"Lindsay was being insane, man, when you turn your phone on you'll see she called like a thousand times… in the voicemails she left bitching you out you'll hear us laughing in the background…"

"Shut up, Tuff," she yelled.

"Really, we missed you," Astrid says seriously.

"Yeah," the others chorus.

He grins, and says truthfully, "I missed you too." Even without Lindsay's prodding, there's something he's ready to tell them. "Hey, I want you guys to meet someone. You're not allergic to cats, right?"

**So it follows a semi-structure of the movie, see? Just out of order...but now all the Vikings know :) 1-2 more chapters coming guys. Depends on whether you guys want two epilogues or not. So review and tell me.**


	15. Chapter 14

Astrid leaps into his counter; the twins, for once, are stunned into silence; Snoutlout grabs a steak knife and makes to threaten Toothless with it, but the panther gives him a look like, _You really want to try that?_ and he backs down. Fishlegs is the first to ask a question, in a fairly normal voice. "Hiccup, why do you have a nonindigenous panther in your house?"

He tells the story, for the third time. It gets easier with each new audience—and this time, he makes sure there are no available phone chargers to hurl at him. Lindsay chimes in every now and again. When he finishes, they all blink at him. Again, Fishlegs breaks the silence. "Dude, +20 speed!"

No one's really sure why he's got such awe in his voice, but in no time they're cooing and petting Toothless, who is pleased: five new friends to spoil him.

Hiccup's day is perfect until he has to go take painkillers and kick his friends out.

It's mostly little stuff he misses. He and Toothless can't leap around and wrestle anymore; his leg is withered and sensitive and slow. Walking makes him feel ashamed, because he almost always needs the cane. He moved into the guestroom, because stairs are too much of a hazard to deal with twice a day. He misses falling asleep knowing that his last sight will be Lindsay's handprint that he focuses his eyes on as he drops off. He misses being able to move without pain, without thinking and clever maneuvering to avoid pain.

The hospital therapist says losing a leg is a lot of like someone dying. First, you're angry. Check. Before Lindsay practically forced him out of his room he broke several lamps and lay there hating himself. Then there's denial. Check. That's when he told himself he'd be fine and to get up and get out of his room. Then there's depression. Apparently, that's where he's parked. The therapist finishes by saying, "But your next stage is acceptance."

It was Lindsay's idea she come to physical therapy with him. He despised the notion of her seeing him sweat and fall and be weak, but she wasn't swayed. "I don't care, Hiccup. Always, remember?"

It's impossible to argue when she says something so logical.

The physical therapist tells him to try to walk to Lindsay, leaning on the bars when he needs it. Lindsay waggles her eyebrows. "I'll make it worth your while," she winks at him. He laughs. "What? I was being serious," she cries, mock-offended. He lumbers to her, gritting his teeth. She leans forward like she's about to kiss him, but lands her lips on his cheek instead.

"Hey," he protests.

"Maybe if you go again."

She grins at the therapist. "See? I told you I was motivational."

Eventually, once he can get around and is used to the metal where flesh was and when unhooking part of him before he sleeps seems normal, then he'll reach acceptance. Until then, he'll let Lindsay remind him, "Always." He'll let Toothless soothe him when he has nightmares of that day and that hot, blazing pain. He'll let his dad try to learn who is he is and how he likes his eggs cooked. He'll let them remind him, that somehow, someday, they'll all be okay again.

**So, that was short. But there is more coming. You will definitely get a chapter tomorrow for Valentine's!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Valentine's Chapter=total fluff.**

The click of a key tells him Lindsay's here. Stoick dismissed her when she tried to return it, just saying, "'I trust you won't use it for any clandestine purposes." Both Hiccup and Lindsay started stammering and blushing, so he trusts her with the key.

She yells that's she's here and he limps into the kitchen. She greets him with a kiss and a cheerful, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

In the past, this day depressed him. Astrid was in the corner snuggling with some guy who was way better looking than him, and he was alone every year. This year, he's kind of been looking forward to it. Lindsay told him for God's sake not to spend too much on her, and she asked if they could hang out, like he would say no.

Lindsay loves this day. "I mean, it bugs me when I see people with all this sweet stuff and they don't appreciate it, but I wear pink and red and make valentines and eat candy and watch romantic comedies. I think it's wonderful to have a day dedicated to love."

So he's planned something special. He's been vague, but she knows he's up to something and she grins at him instead of inquiring after it.

"Happy Valentine's Day," He replies.

He takes her hand and leads her into the transformed living room he's been working on for an hour. He's hung red sheets over the windows and lit candles, so the lighting is glowing and soft. He set out a picnic on a blanket, complete with two champagne glasses filled with sparkling cider, and stacked by the TV are the DVDs of Lindsay's Top Ten Romantic Movies (and she thought he was zoning out when she talked about it). She blinks and hurls herself into his arms. "You are so amazing!"

She retrieves a small wrapped gif from her bag and waves it teasingly at him. "This will go perfectly with all this."

So of course, he must know what it is. She lets him open it, adding, "This is only one thing anyway." It's a CD she must have burned and when he reads the song titles his heart melts. Firework. Not Like the Movies. Enchanted. Songs that immediately make him think of a moment they were together and happy. Only Lindsay knows him this well, would even think of this idea.

She returns his kiss before asking, 'Do you want your next gift?"

He starts to protest, but she rolls her eyes. "Already got it, Hiccup, if you don't take it who will I give it to?"

He opens it and smiles. It's a little framed portrait of a black panther with green-yellow eyes looking directly out.

It's Toothless.

"I had a painter at the mall do it," she says. "This is part of him you'll never have to keep hidden from anyone."

She beams and she's beautiful and he tells her so.

He presents her with the tiny box he wrapped himself in shiny red paper. She carefully peels it away, just as his heart pounds and he is more and more impatient. She opens the box and tears dribbles out her eyes. "Hiccup!" She fingers the tiny-chained necklace, the heart hanging from it with _Always_ engraved.

She chokes out, "I love you, I love you so much," and again dives into his arms. They stay that way for a long, long time, warm and soft and floating on air.

He can now appreciate Valentine's Day.

**Happy Valentine's, Everyone!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Epilogue**

Lindsay kisses him enthusiastically. "You did great, lovemuffin." In over two years, he has not been able to shake that one. "Of course, knowing that you'd be valedictorian since pre-k probably helped prepare you."

"So you liked my speech?"

"Yes. Especially the bit about people not always being who you expect. I think that really pertained to us, don't you?"

"Yeah. So, Miss Salutatorian," He questioned. "How's it feel to have graduated?"

She tosses her hair, curled just for today. "Just grand. And you, Mr. Valedictorian?"

"Fabulous," he teases. She rolls her eyes. "So do you and your dad want to go out with my family tonight?"

"Nah, that's a family moment and we wouldn't—"

"Hiccup, my parents adore you; it's not intrusion."

"Yeah, okay," he agrees. "And you want to hang out after?"

"Absolutely. You'll need my help to organize your mess to pack."

Hiccup is, no surprise, headed to MIT, to major in engineering—the best science school in the country. He's getting an apartment with a backyard, off campus but nearby, and Toothless will accompany him. Lindsay's going to Columbia to major in education and literary arts. They had a brief conversation about the separation:

"_It's a long way apart."_

"_Yeah."_

_They both paused._

"_Maybe…"_

"_No. I love you, that's not going to change, and that's why there's Skype." _

That ended it; they're staying together, and that's final. Besides, they still have three glorious months to love without restraint, and they don't intend to waste them. So he says it now: "I love you."

"Yeah, lovemuffin?" She curls her fingers over his. "Me too."

**For those interested, I have a very long end note next chapter. For those who aren't...well, thank you so much for reading.**


	18. End Notes

**So there may be some curious people wondering how much real me is like Lindsay.**

**I do have brownish hair…well, like brown or blonde or some sort of mixture of those. Brown was just simpler. I do have hazel eyes. I made her a little smaller than me, because I personally think Astrid can't be more 120-something pounds were she real, and I wanted to emphasize that Lindsay would be beaten to a pulp if they fought. She is also a little older.**

**I do suck at P.E., and I do fail at the flexed arm hang. I do take accelerated classes, though I really doubt I will be salutatorian. I do observe people as basis for characters. My notebook is ever present. My birthday is early for my grade. I am very sarcastic. My favorite subjects are history and English, and I do despise math. I am a clean freak. My musical tastes and books I like are as described; and Firework and Enchanted cameo in here because I love them. I am NOT technologically advanced. I am awesome at badminton. I am very klutzy. I am a die-hard conservationist. I am very ticklish. My family, home and pets are as described. I am loud and laugh a lot with my friends. I love Valentine's. And I absolutely can recite the first page of Harry Potter verbatim. Not kidding.**

**The major personality shift is that I'm braver. Man, I risk getting beat up never, while Lindsay does a lot! **

**This has been awesome to write. I have met so many awesome people, and even when I went a more controversial direction, no one (except one person) criticized my decision; everyone told me to stand by my decision even if they didn't support it. A huge thanks to every reviewer, person who story marked it, or read this story. A special thanks to my biggest supporters: mks 12 98; Punzie the Platypus; Voldyne; Ella Unlimited; HunterNite; Midnight4568; and Astrid Goes for A Spin, who comforted me after that one review. I am so happy with this story and the work I put into it.**

**I hope to see you guys again, and I hope you loved this story too. **

**And so ends this tale.**

**Love,**

**Wordwielder**


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